


Haven: Resurrection

by TRDowden



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 23:49:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7866220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TRDowden/pseuds/TRDowden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was my idea on how they could restart Haven, should they ever want to...</p><p>It's been almost a year since the Troubles ended, Audrey left and Duke died. But a freak Nor'Easter bearing down on the town is about to change all that...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gathering Stormclouds

  

"And in weather news, it looks like that Nor'Easter's going to come barreling right down on central Maine, so all you folks in Bangor, Derry, Castle Rock, Haven and the surrounding area, make sure you're stocked up on emergency provisions, and don't forget those batteries for the radio, so you can keep it tuned right here for the latest forecast," Tom Miller the morning DJ on WSKY was telling his listeners.

  
Nathan switched off the radio and glanced out at the gathering storm clouds off to his right. The sea was already angry, gray and foamy, with waves that lashed against the storm wall. If the weatherman was to be believed, it was going to be a hell of a storm.

  
_Haven's just now putting herself back together and now this_ , Nathan thought as he drove through town, seeing people dragging out storm shutters and taking down swinging signs that could be torn loose in the high winds that would soon be sweeping through the town.

  
A droplet of water hit his windshield, quickly followed by a light splattering, and he turned on the wipers. It wasn't a hard rain; that would come later, he knew, as he turned into the school parking lot, where he could see Paige with the other teachers watching as students boarded the buses and ran to parents' cars, the school being closed early on account of the storm.

  
She spotted the Bronco and waved to him, and ran toward the vehicle.

"Hi," she smiled, climbing in. "Everyone's talking about the storm," she told him. "I've never seen a Nor'Easter. Is it like a hurricane?"

  
"Winds can get pretty intense," Nathan agreed. "But it's not quite the same thing."

  
"Gloria phoned, said Vicky picked up James when she went to get Aaron, so he's at Gloria's house," Paige informed him. Nathan nodded, and put the Bronco in drive.

  
The rain had started to gain steam, and the clouds overhead were so dark it seemed as though it were almost sunset, even though it was only one in the afternoon. They were in for a long night if this was the way it was going to be.

  
He remembered the last Nor'Easter that had struck Haven--he'd argued with Duke about him taking the _Rouge_ out to open seas in a storm. But Duke had stubbornly insisted that he stood a better chance out on the water skirting the storm than he did moored in the harbor being bashed against the docks. Nathan hadn't had time to argue with him about it, and had left him to his own devices while he and the Chief had made sure the town was secured.

  
After the storm, Duke hadn't reappeared in the harbor for two days. Nathan had been on the verge of telling the Coast Guard to start a search when _The Cape Rouge_ had finally come limping into port. It'd taken Duke weeks in repairs, he remembered. But the _Rouge_ had survived--just as he'd said she would.

  
He glanced over at Paige, who smiled at him, and he suddenly remembered something-- _Audrey_ had turned up just a few days after that storm. The thought that maybe the storm had been some sort of portend of her return from the Barn flitted across his mind. As though they were an omen of things to come, he pondered. But he soon put it out of his mind. It had to just be coincidence. Audrey was gone, and Paige was here to stay. And the Troubles were gone for good.

  
They arrived at Gloria and Lincoln's house, and Nathan could see Linc trying to get the storm shutters fastened down, and he quickly jumped out and ran to help while Paige dashed into the house. The wind was beginning to pick up; and they all knew that the storm was just about to break directly over Haven.

  
"Louis got held up in town, couldn't make it over!" Lincoln was hollering over the wind.

  
"Where's Gloria?" Nathan shouted. He'd noticed that her car was absent in the driveway.

  
"She got called to the office, some sort of emergency-something about a body washing ashore," Lincoln told him as they went inside.

  
"Strange they didn't call me about it," Nathan commented.

  
"Not the first time a storm's washed up a body on shore," Lincoln replied, pouring them coffee. "If it's important enough, they'll let you know. Probably just some poor soul who fell overboard or something."

* * *

Gloria stood, looking at the somewhat battered-looking sail-canvas casket with tears in her eyes. Dwight Hendrickson stood alongside her, both of them looking at it in silence for a few moments, and then Dwight spoke.

  
"I can't believe the storm pushed him that far in," he muttered. "I thought Aidan Driscoll had weighted the casket."

  
"He did. But it looks like it's lost its ballast," she noted the long rip in the bottom where the casket had been weighted with three hundred pounds worth of cannonballs. "And with the storm and the currents--" she sighed, and gave a small sad smile. "Or maybe he just wanted to be home in Haven once more," she finished softly, her fingers tracing over the words embroidered into the fabric of the casket: _DUKE CROCKER, BELOVED FATHER AND FRIEND,1977-2015._

  
She shook her head, and blinked hard a few times. "Casket itself seems to be a little worse for wear," she commented. "It'll have to be repaired before we put him back."

  
"Gloria--you know that Duke won't be--very pretty," Dwight said slowly. "If there's anything left of him at all. It's been almost a year now."

  
"Dwight, I've seen waterlogged corpses before," Gloria told him.

  
"They probably weren't friends of yours either," Dwight pointed out.

  
"True enough. But I'd rather it be me than someone who didn't care about him," Gloria answered, and Dwight nodded, seeing he wasn't going to win this argument.

  
"Want me to stay and help?" he asked, and Gloria shook her head.

  
"No. I need to get home, and so do you. He'll keep until tomorrow," she said. "But you can help me get him out and into refrigeration."

  
Dwight nodded reluctantly, and set to undoing the locks that held the zippers closed, mentally cringing at the thought of the grisly sight of Duke's putrefying corpse awaiting them inside.

  
He unfastened the last lock, and undid the zipper, bracing for the stench--and was surprised to find none. He cautiously opened one eye and then another, both he and Gloria gazing down at the interior black rubbery body bag inside the casket. He expected a jumble of bones outlined beneath, but it looked as though Duke were still pretty solid.

  
Stan appeared in the doorway.

  
"Ah, just in time," Gloria called. "Stan, if you'd be kind enough to give Dwight a hand."

  
"Um...sure," Stan said, and got at one end of the casket, and Dwight the other.

  
"Ready? On three--one, two, three," Dwight grunted, and they lifted the body bag out of the casket and lay it on the stretcher.

  
Dwight was surprised--he'd fully expected Duke's body bag to sag like a water balloon when they'd lifted it out, but not only had the body held together--it was _heavy,_ as though-- _as though it were still fully fleshed_ , he thought.

  
The same thought seemed to be going through Gloria's mind as she eyed the body bag, and she glanced at Dwight.

  
"Come too far to chicken out now," she said, reaching for the zipper.

  
Stan swallowed nervously and stepped back involuntarily, and Dwight had half a mind to do the same as Gloria undid the zipper and carefully folded back the flap from Duke's face.

  
"What the hell?" Dwight whispered.

  
Stan just stared.

  
Gloria fainted.


	2. An Omen of Things to Come

 

 

Paige had just finished bundling James in his coat when Nathan heard his phone ring. He glanced at it, seeing it was Dwight, and answered.

  
"Yeah, Dwight," he began. "You and Lizzie got your hatches all battened down?" he asked.

  
"Lizzie's with McHugh. Nate, you need to get down here to the morgue. Now," Dwight got out.

  
"What's the matter? They ID that body?"

  
"Yeah--we know who it is." There was a pause, and then: "It's Duke, Nathan."

  
"Duke?" Nathan whispered. "His casket washed ashore?"

  
"Yeah. That ain't all, Nate."

  
"What else?" Nathan got out, his voice strained, and Paige looked at him curiously.

  
"I don't wanna get into this on the phone; I need to go see about Gloria. She passed out.”

  
“Well, wait, _what?”_

  
“Just get here, pronto," Dwight finished, and hung up.

  
"Paige, I-I gotta go," Nathan blurted, pulling his jacket back on. "Something's come up at Haven PD, I gotta get down there."

  
"In this weather?" she asked, seeing the slashes of rain pouring across the driveway.

  
"Duty calls," Nathan said feebly, and Paige gave him a stern look, but softened, and drew him away from Lincoln and Vicky.

  
"I heard you say your friend Duke's name," she told him softly. "What happened?"

  
"His body's washed ashore," Nathan replied and Paige looked sympathetic.

  
"I'm sorry about that," she said.

  
"So am I. Dwight's being very insistent that there is something that I need to see, so I have to go. Stay here with Lincoln and Vicky. You'll be safer here than you would at our place," he half-grinned.

  
"All right. Be careful on those roads," she told him. "Call me when you get there."

  
"I will, promise." Nathan kissed her, lingering with his face next to hers for a moment.

  
"I love you, Nathan," Paige whispered in his ear; and just for the slightest moment, it sounded as though Paige hadn't said it--but _Audrey_.

  
He looked back at her, but saw only the woman he'd come to know as Paige smiling at him.

  
"I love you too," he answered, and getting one final kiss, waded his way back out to the Bronco, and set out for Haven PD.

* * *

 

Gloria slugged back the shot from the whiskey she kept in the drawer of her desk, where she was seated. Dwight had carted her into her office after she'd fainted. She was a little put out with herself--it wasn't the first weird thing she'd ever seen--but that was just a little more than she'd been expecting.

  
"I needed a bracer," she muttered.

  
"That's your third bracer," Dwight noted, draining the last of the liquor in his own glass. He started to reach for the bottle, but Gloria was too quick for him.

  
Stan was pacing, anxious and agitated.

  
"Is--is that _normal?_ " he goggled. "What--why--" he dropped his voice to a whisper--" _why_ is he _like_ that?"

  
"You're from _this_ town and you're asking _me_ ," Gloria cracked, pouring herself a fourth bracer. "And for the record, NO, that is not normal."

  
Dwight cast a nervous eye toward the outstretched morgue drawer, where Duke's body lay, still enshrouded in its body bag.

  
"Troubles are supposed to be gone, Nathan said so," Dwight said stubbornly.

  
"It could be any number of logical reasons," Gloria protested.

  
"Name _one_."

  
"It could be that his casket was in an underwater cold pocket, and it kept him partially frozen," Gloria began.

  
"That's as bad as Vince and Dave's gas leaks," Dwight grumbled. "Underwater cold pocket," he repeated, frowning at his empty glass. "Nathan's gonna freak."

  
"Well, whatever the reason, we need to get Duke in the fridge, or decomp is going set in quick," Gloria answered, and getting up a little unsteadily, she pushed the morgue drawer closed, her hands resting on the handle.

  
They heard a beep at the door, and Nathan entered, soaked to the skin.

  
"What's going on?" he asked.

  
"Better give him a shot of that stuff before it's all gone," Gloria said.

  
"I don't want a drink, I want answers. You said Duke washed ashore," Nathan began. He spotted the opened casket, and saw that it was empty. "What'd you do with him?"

  
"He's in here," Gloria said. "But I want you to prepare yourself, Nathan."

  
Nathan drew a deep breath. He knew Duke's remains would probably be little more than a gooey skeleton at this stage, and he nodded, waiting.

  
"I'm ready," he said in a low voice.

  
"No, I don't think you are. But here goes," Gloria told him. She opened the drawer, and slowly unzipped the body bag.

  
Nathan audibly gasped, staggering back.

  
Before him on the table, Duke laid stretched out, his hair and clothes wet, however, his body seemed to be fully intact. He was a sort of grayish color; but otherwise, it didn't appear that any form of decomposition had taken place, despite his having been submerged underwater for almost a year. After a few moments of stunned silence, Nathan found his voice.

  
"He--he look--he looks--"

  
"He looks like he did the day we put him in there," Gloria finished for him.

  
"Why-- _how_?"

  
"Right now, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he was situated in an arctic current, which would have helped to keep him preserved to a degree--but not like this," she continued, and smiled slightly. "Unless this miraculous incorruptibility means he's some sort of saint."

  
"A saint," Nathan said dubiously.

  
"Many things come to mind when I think about Duke Crocker," Dwight put in. "Saint is not among them."

  
"You got a better explanation?" Gloria quizzed, peering over her glasses.

  
"There's only one other one," Nathan answered, reflexively rubbing his hand on his jacket pocket, relieved he could still feel the action. "It could be a Trouble."

  
"Troubles are gone, Nate," Dwight snipped. "The Armory pulled all the Troubles out of everyone."

  
"But Duke had died _before_ that happened," Nathan went on, thinking. "He told us that the Troubles he collected would die along with him. What if they didn't--or the aether in him didn't, and it just went--dormant, somehow?"

  
"I'll run a test on him to see if he still has the DNA marker for Troubles tomorrow," Gloria promised. She looked tearful a moment. "It sounds silly--but I did check him for vitals. However he may look, dormant Troubles or not--he is still dead, Nathan."

  
Nathan gazed back down to the drawer. Now that the initial shock had worn off, he felt the familiar ache in his heart, knowing Duke was lying here because of him; and he gently touched his face. He felt cold, but not clammy or slimy as he might have thought he would feel. Nathan could still make out the bruises around Duke's neck where he'd held onto him, smothering the life from his friend, and he felt tears pricking at his eyes as he remembered the second worst day of his life.

  
"We'll put him to rest again after the storm, Nathan," Gloria told him, a gentle hand on his arm, and Nathan nodded. "Go on back home to Paige and the baby."

  
"So long as you ride with me," Nathan warned gently. She was more than a little tipsy; but given the circumstances, he couldn't really blame her.

  
"Well, you'll have to take mine, because I'm too old to try climbing up in that thing you drive," Gloria shot back, and Nathan suppressed a grin. He gazed at Duke one last time and then helped Gloria close the drawer once more.

  
Dwight and Stan followed them out to the parking lot.

  
"I'm gonna make one more round and then head home," Stan called to Nathan over the wind. Dwight waved to them before he drove off in his pickup.

  
"Be careful out there," Nathan answered, and escorted Gloria into her car.

* * *

 

After he returned Gloria home, the weather had gotten even worse. The rain was coming down so hard now visibility was practically nil, and Gloria fetched blankets from her linen cupboard.

  
"Looks like you guys are staying the night," she told them.

  
“Oh, we don’t want to put you to any trouble—“ Paige protested, and Nathan winced at the word.

  
"You don't need to take that baby out in this weather," Gloria waved off Paige's protests, and Nathan had to agree.

  
A huge peal of thunder resounded, hard enough to shake the house, and a brilliant bolt of lightning flashed, bright enough to temporarily light up the night sky, and then darkness, as the lights blinked twice, and then went out.

  
"I'll go get the generator fired up," Lincoln said, as Paige and Gloria soothed the fussy toddlers.  "Surprised the lights have lasted as long as they did in this magilla."

  
Paige looked nervously out the window at the storm, and Nathan put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. She seemed unusually tense.

  
"Afraid of the storm?" he asked. 

  
"A little," she replied. "It just--reminds me of something."

  
"What?" Nathan asked, unable to help himself.

  
"I don't know. A--dream I had. It's stupid," she shrugged.

  
"It was just a dream, right? Dreams can't hurt you," Nathan fibbed, thinking back on the time when Carrie's Dream Trouble had wreaked havoc in Haven. _Those days are over. Then how do I explain Duke?_

  
"It was a weird dream, that's for sure," Paige went on. "You were in it."

  
"I was?" Nathan laughed, pecking her cheek. "What was I doing?"

  
"We were at a party--you and me and some other people. I don't know who any of them were," Paige began. "And--your friend Duke was there too. We were all stranded on a desert island."

  
Nathan's smile slipped. He knew it had to be the day's stress playing on his nerves, but it sounded as though Paige was describing what had happened on Carpenter's Knot, when they'd thrown Audrey a surprise birthday party--and ended up being trapped on the island with a person with a Chameleon Trouble.  
Nathan looked at her intensely.

  
_Are Audrey's memories--bleeding through?_ he wondered. _Audrey?_

* * *

 

In a darkened Haven PD, lit only by the emergency lights, rookie patrolman Danny Kendall swung his flashlight down the hall towards the morgue as the thunder rumbled overhead. He'd heard a sort of banging sound a few minutes ago.  _Probably a loose drainpipe outside,_ he thought, listening to the wind howl. But it still bore investigation.

There was another bang, and he jumped, thinking on all those horror movies involving thunderstorms and dark spooky places, and he sighed, exasperated with himself.

  
"Quit being a dweeb," he scolded himself. "Nobody in there's gonna _get_ you, Kendall," he scoffed, peering through the doors, and stepped inside the room, sweeping the flashlight beam around. Everything appeared normal. He then turned to leave when he heard a bump behind him.

  
Danny stopped in place;  working up every ounce of courage he had, he turned around to see who--or what--was behind him, and froze when the flashlight beam made contact with what had made the noise.

  
And he screamed.


	3. Shelter from the Storm

 

The storm had intensified. It was dark now, and everyone had decided to camp out in the living room, Gloria and Lincoln on the sofa, and Nathan and Paige took the inflatable mattress that Gloria had brought out, while Aaron and James slept in the playpen.

  
Around one, Nathan heard his phone buzz, and he roused himself gingerly off the bed, and padded into the laundry room to answer it.

"Yeah?" he asked his voice full of sleep.

  
"Chief," Stan said. "You need to come down to Haven PD. Something's happened."

  
"What's happened?" Nathan questioned instantly awake.

  
"Danny was doing rounds in the station while I was on patrol," Stan began. "I come back, and he's--he flipped out," he continued. "We had to restrain him; he was in full-on hysterics."

  
"I'm on my way," Nathan sighed. The storm seemed to be bringing out a raw nerve in everyone tonight, and again, the thought of storms being an omen crossed his mind.

  
_Stop it, Wuornos_ , he thought crossly, slipping out to Gloria's car. _You'll be the one in hysterics next!_

  
He somehow made it over King's Point bridge, the river under it so swollen it was beginning to seep onto the pavement, as he drove through it, cutting great sluices of water on either side.

  
"Laverne, we need to put warning signs on King's Point Road, the bridge is nearly underwater," he radioed.

  
"Roger, Chief," came the reply. "You heading in?"

  
"Yeah. What's going on with Danny?"

  
"I don't know. Stan came back from rounds and Danny was in the morgue, just screaming incoherently."

  
"The morgue?" Nathan asked, anxious. "Laverne, can you call Dwight at home?"

  
"He's already on his way in, Chief," Laverne answered.

  
"Thanks, Laverne," Nathan replied, and put the handset back in its holder.

  
He puzzled over Danny's breakdown. He was new to Haven. He hadn't known of the Troubles, what had happened or had even known Duke. Even if he'd opened the morgue drawer, the sight of Duke's body shouldn't have caused him to go off the deep end like that.

  
He finally arrived, and made his way inside to the break room, where Dr. Cassandra Morton had arrived from the Freddy. She finished giving Danny the sedative and he seemed to relax. Dwight had arrived, and was seated next to Danny, the Taser secreted under his thigh in case Danny became violent.

  
"Hey, Danny," Nathan greeted, and drew up a chair in front of the young officer. "What's going on? What happened?"

  
Danny seemed to be trying to focus his eyes. He was clearly under some terrible strain, Nathan could tell that much. His hair was soaked with sweat, his uniform shirt clinging to his body, and he was highly agitated.

  
"He's had an immense shock," Dr. Morton spoke. "He keeps talking about 'him'."

  
Danny perked up at the mention of a man, and he giggled. Nathan found himself reminded of Dwight Fry's character Renfield in Dracula when they'd found him aboard the derelict ship, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

  
"Hehehehehhe," Danny wheezed, the sedative taking hold of him. "Shined the flashlight around and--there he was, just standing there."

  
"Who was there, Danny?" Nathan asked a hand on the young officer’s shoulder.

  
Danny started to cry and then laugh again, and Nathan and Dwight exchanged glances. Nathan wondered if Danny might have shot his bolt for good, but then Danny laughed again.

  
"H-he got up and went out," he said, looking at Nathan.

  
"Who did, Danny?" Nathan asked, almost in a whisper.

  
"The guy in the drawer," Danny giggled again. "He went for a walk!"

  
"Somebody go check the morgue," Nathan ordered.

  
"I already did," Dwight told him. "Duke's body is gone."

  
"Somebody stole a body?" Dr. Morton asked.

  
"Didn't steal him," Danny tittered, shaking his head. "He w-walked away," he went on, his face growing paler. "H-he was all g-gray, but-but-he-just-walked-a-away," he hiccuped through his tears before he started giggling again.

  
"We'll look after him, Chief," Dr. Morton assured him. "It's okay, Danny," she soothed, as two orderlies put their arms around Danny's shoulders. "We're going to take you to the hospital to get all checked out. You'll feel better in the morning."

  
Once they had gone, Nathan and Dwight went to the morgue, where Nathan could see Danny was right--Duke's body was gone from the drawer.

  
"Someone stole him, stole Duke's body," Nathan grated. "They probably had Duke propped up between them, and all Danny saw was Duke, so it looked like he was walking.”

  
"I don't think so, Nathan," Dwight said slowly. "Stan?"

  
Nathan's attention was jerked back to the officer, standing nervously in the corner.

  
"Stan? You know something about this?" Nathan demanded.

  
"Not about this," Stan answered. "But I think you should know--I was making my rounds out by Arrow Park--a-and it's back."

  
"What's back?" Nathan asked, feeling like a hundred cats were crawling up his back. _Maybe the storms are an omen of things to come_ , he thought once more, and this time, he didn't dismiss the thought as Stan spoke again.

  
"The Armory's back."


	4. Dark Clouds on the Horizon

 

 

Dwight and Nathan stared at Stan, aghast.

  
"What do you mean, 'the Armory's back?" Nathan demanded.

  
"Just that--it was standing there, like it'd always been there," Stan blurted.

  
"Did you go in? Or see _anybody_ come out?" Dwight questioned.

  
"No. The Armory was dark--didn't see any lights inside."

  
"Maybe that's why Danny saw what he did," Nathan guessed.

  
"You think maybe Vince reanimated Duke somehow?" Dwight asked.

  
"Or someone else did," Nathan uttered, and Dwight paled. "What if--what if he got loose, Dwight? What if _Croatoan_ did it?"

  
"I don't wanna think about it," Dwight got out, thinking of his daughter at home. "I can't go through all that again, Nathan. I _can't_ ," he half-shouted at him.

  
"Go through all of what?" Stan got out, and then realized the implications of what Dwight was saying. "You think the Troubles are back?" he asked, his voice rising, and Nathan and Dwight shushed him.

  
"We don't know that," Nathan directed. "We don't want to panic people, not in the middle of this storm. Right now, all we're going on is that a body's been taken from the morgue. That's all _anyone_ needs to know. This stays between us for now," he continued. "I'm counting on you to keep this quiet, Stan," he assured him, putting a gentling hand on his shoulder.

  
"Come daylight, everyone's gonna know," Stan protested. "How're you gonna explain how the Armory just--reappeared?"

  
"I'm working on that," Nathan told him. "Go home--Just go on home," he finished in a more kindly tone. "We'll work it out."

  
Stan nodded, and took off down the hall. They watched him go, and then Nathan turned back toward Dwight.

  
"Well, he's right," Nathan exhaled, running a hand over his hair. "Once it's light out, everyone's going to know that--" he trailed off as a familiar figure appeared in the hallway, and Dwight followed his gaze, and startled as the older man stepped into the office.

  
"Vince," Dwight breathed.

  
"Hello, Dwight. Nathan," Vince nodded at them.

  
"Why are you here?" Nathan asked without preamble. "What do you know about Duke?"

  
"Duke? He died, you killed him to keep Croatoan from taking his Troubles," Vince replied, his face puzzled. "Didn't you bury him at sea?"

  
"His casket washed ashore just before the storm broke," Dwight spoke. "Vince, he hadn't decomposed at all, looked just like he did the day he died."

  
"Oh, dear," Vince muttered.

  
"I thought all of the Troubles Duke collected died when he did. That's how it always worked before," Nathan argued. "When he killed Wade, his Trouble ended, till Audrey gave it back to him." He didn't _want_ to believe the Troubles could be returning. "So why didn't the Armory pull the aether from Duke's body?"

  
"I...don't know. Mara tinkered so much with his Trouble, it mutated to the point where it could affect even her, if you remember," Vince informed him. "It may have changed greatly since Roy and Simon wrote that Troubles in a Crocker died along with them in that journal."

  
"Is Croatoan still captive?" Dwight asked point-blank.

  
"Oh, yes--absolutely," Vince assured them. "He's not going anywhere."

  
"Then why the hell is Duke walking around Haven like a zombie from a horror movie?"

  
"If we can find him, maybe we can discover why," Vince said.

  
"Can you track him by his aether?" Nathan inquired.

  
"Possibly.”

  
"Or worse--what if he's going to blow like before?" Dwight argued.

  
"Then we should find Duke before that happens," Vince advised. "But I will need some help."

  
"We'll help you," Vince and Dwight chorused.

  
"I was thinking of someone a little more specialized," Vince remarked.

  
"Oh, no--you're not getting _him_ out," Nathan protested.

  
"I wasn't thinking of _Croatoan_ , Nathan," Vince told him.

* * *

 

In Gloria's home, a sleepy hand reached across the inflatable bed, feeling an empty spot.

  
"Nathan?" she murmured, and then jerked herself awake, looking around wildly. She recognized Gloria's house, and the sleeping couple on the sofa, and she crawled out of bed, searching through the house.

  
"Nathan?" she whispered, getting no answer. She quickly went over to her purse, and found her phone, dialing it as she went into the bathroom.

* * *

 

Nathan heard his phone, and saw it was Paige.

  
"Hey," he said.

  
"Nathan, why am I at Gloria's house?" she said, and Nathan felt his heart stop.

  
_No. No, it couldn't be,_ he thought, and glanced at Vince, who nodded.

  
" _A-Audrey_?" Nathan choked, and Dwight's eyes grew wide. "Audrey, is that you?"

  
"Yes, Nathan, it's me. Where are you? The station?"

  
"Yes," Nathan answered, his eyes filling. "Audrey, I--"

  
"Can you pick me up?" she whispered, slipping outside to the sun porch. "I don't want to wake everybody."

  
"Gloria's had enough shocks for today," Nathan ceded. "I'll be there as soon as I can--Parker," he said, as though it were a prayer, and hung up. He looked at Vince.

  
"Is she replacing Paige?"

  
"It's a temporary measure, Nathan. _She_ chose to become Paige. I restored Audrey's memories to her to help us. Now come on, time's wasting," he urged.

  
"What about the Armory?" Dwight asked. It'd be light in another couple of hours.

  
"I can conceal it to where it cannot be seen, except by me, Audrey, and Duke," Vince explained.

  
"Why Duke?"

  
"The Armory is designed to attract and hold aether. If it is still inside Duke's body, it will draw him to it like a homing beacon. Hopefully," he added. "That is, if Duke is even aware. He may just be powered by the aether."

  
"You mean that Duke isn't really there, it's just his body," Nathan said sadly, and Vince nodded sympathetically.

  
"I feel that Duke likely departed this life that day in the station," Vince told him, patting his shoulder. "This may only be a husk of the man he used to be."

  
Nathan remembered when Mara had referred to Audrey as a husk, and he winced at Vince's choice of words.

  
Dwight thought of something.

  
"Well, who's minding the store while you're here?"

  
"Howard is still sentient. He helps me with things," Vince explained. "Now, we really must hurry," he continued, eyeing the weather outside, which was showing no signs of weakening. "Or there might not be much left of Haven."

  
"Is this storm here because of you?" Dwight asked as they ran to their respective vehicles.

  
"Our reappearance here will start to cause a rift between worlds," Vince shouted over the wind, which howled mercilessly. "So we need to find him!"

  
"I'll be back as soon as I can with--Audrey," Nathan said, and slammed the door, throwing the Bronco into drive and squealing out of the parking lot.

  
"Okay, now that he's gone," Dwight told Vince, narrowing his eyes. "How 'bout I hear the _real_ version of why you're back."

  
Vince peered at him over his glasses sternly, but Dwight didn't budge; and Vince sighed.

  
"I fear the truth is actually much worse," he sighed.


	5. Home, The Wayward Sailor

 

 

Nathan pulled to a stop, and climbed out of the Bronco, just standing there as he watched her, _his_ Audrey, come toward him, her blonde hair getting wet, and she put her arms around him as he held on tightly, crushing her to him.

  
"I never--I never believed I would see you again," he murmured in her hair.

  
"I missed you too," Audrey smiled, and then sobered. "But I am _strictly_ on loan. Paige has as much a right to her own life as I did." She looked at him. "She loves you, you know."

  
"And I love her," Nathan replied. "But--"

  
"I know," Audrey smiled her eyes bright. "I love you too. But we need to find Duke."

  
"Why is he--like he is?" Nathan asked as they both headed back to Haven PD.

  
"I don't know," Audrey answered truthfully. "Vince feels that when Duke died, all the aether in him went dormant, and when the rift happened, it--woke it up."

  
"And now it's using Duke's body to steer him around," Nathan got out. "So where should we look, or do we just stake out the Armory and hope it shows there?"

  
"I don't know. It may also be the aether had access to Duke's memories. Where would he go, Nathan?"

  
"Gloria sold _The Cape Rouge_ ; last I knew, it was being sailed by a skipper out of Newfoundland," Nathan began. "Maybe he’d go to The Gull?"

  
"Gloria rebuilt it?" Audrey asked, half-smiling.

  
"Right down to the hand-blown lamps over the tables," Nathan smiled faintly.

  
"Then let's try there," Audrey suggested, and Nathan made the turn.

* * *

 

Dwight and Vince also seemed to have the same idea, and had just turned into the parking lot, using the truck's searchlights to pierce the darkness.

  
He came to a stop, and the pair climbed out.

  
"Duke! Duke Crocker!" Dwight called over the wind, looking around the building. He looked out over the back of the building, and around the side, checking the doors to make sure they were all secured, and had turned to go back when he spotted something out on the dock.

  
"Vince!" he hollered, pointing out at the end of the dock.

* * *

 

"Looks like Dwight and Vince had the same idea," Nathan commented as he turned into the Gull's parking lot, where he could see Vince and Dwight going toward the back of the building.

  
"Nathan--out on the pier," Audrey pointed.

  
Nathan could make out a solitary figure standing on the edge of the pier in the driving rain, seemingly oblivious to it. He was near the edge of the pier, watching the water crashing against the dock.

  
"Duke," he got out, and grabbed a flashlight, he and Audrey pelting across the driveway and down the dock. “Duke! _Duke!_ ” he shouted, running toward the dock.

  
The man had not turned around, but Nathan didn't need for him to. He knew the shape of his head, the long neck holding it up, the span of his broad shoulders. Duke was soaked and getting wetter, yet seemed oblivious to it.

  
He heard the commotion on the dock behind and cocked an ear in their direction, his movement jerky and Dwight pulled everyone to a stop.

  
"Easy, easy--we don't want to provoke him--it--whatever that is. Clearly, he isn’t—himself," Vince urged. "Perhaps just Audrey should go," he finished softly.

  
Audrey nodded, and cautiously split away from the little gathering as another volley of thunder shook the dock beneath their feet.

  
"Duke," Audrey called to him. "Duke, it's Audrey, do you remember?" she asked. They could see he was shivering violently in the cold, and she saw Nathan peel off his jacket and toss it to her.

  
"Come on--it's okay," she soothed. "I know you must be scared and confused, but it's all right. Come on," she coaxed, drawing nearer.

  
Duke turned his head, looking at her. She was relieved to see that his eyes were brown, not black or silver, and she reached out to touch him, but he drew away from her hand.

  
"Okay. Okay, I won't touch you if you don't want me to," she told him.

  
Nathan, Vince and Dwight drew a little closer.

  
"Duke, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you," Nathan called to him.

  
Duke glanced at him briefly, and then back at Audrey. His expression was so strange, Nathan thought, and after a moment, Duke spoke.

  
"I don't know where I am," he said, his voice harsh and rough. "I don't know--who you are," he told Audrey, and she looked as though he'd slapped her, but she recovered.

  
"I'm your friend Audrey, Duke. Audrey Parker."

  
"Keep calling me Duke. That--who I am?" he asked.

  
Audrey nodded. "Yes. Your name is Duke. Duke Crocker."

  
"S'weird," he muttered, making her smile. He glanced at her again. "Are we--friends?" he rasped.

  
"Yes, we're friends," Audrey answered tenderly. "I was always your friend--don't you remember?"

  
Duke shook his head.

  
"No. D-Don’t understand why I’m here,” he indicated the dock.

  
“This was your place before,” Audrey told him, gesturing to the Gull. “You used to like to sit out here and watch the sunsets. You and me—and Nathan,” she continued. “You don’t remember that.”

  
“No,” Duke answered, his voice weary.

"What do you remember?" she asked. "What is the very last thing you can remember?"

  
"I woke up in a box. Got out--saw a guy, and he freaked out," Duke said. "Why was I in a box?”

  
"We’ll try to explain it. Come with us, Duke. We’ll get you warm and dry and out of this weather and we'll try to explain it," Audrey promised. "Please—you can trust me, Duke. You can trust us.”

  
Duke hesitated a few moments more, and then nodded. Audrey draped Nathan's jacket around his shoulders, and led him back toward the shore.

  
"Hey buddy," Dwight greeted gently, a cautious but friendly hand on Duke’s shoulder.

  
"We're going to take a look at you. See if we can’t help you recover your memories," Vince assured him.

  
Nathan tried to speak, but words failed him; and instead, he put his arms around Duke and held him close. He was warm under the chill of the rain, and he could feel him breathing. _He's alive_ , he thought, feeling as though he might burst into tears at any moment. _He's alive_.

  
Duke didn't pull away immediately, but after a few moments, Nathan sensed he wanted him to let go, and he did.

  
"Welcome home, Duke," he finally got out.

  
"Should we take him to the Armory?" Dwight asked.

  
"First, let's get him into some dry clothes," Nathan said. "Then figure out what to do next."

  
Duke obediently climbed in the back of the Bronco, and rode back to Nathan's house.

  
Nathan kept glancing at Duke in the rear-view. He watched his miraculously resurrected friend looking out of the passenger window at the rain, his expression unreadable, his eyes averting their gazes.

  
"Are you warm enough back there?" Audrey asked, and Duke gave a faint nod.

  
Nathan gnawed his lip, thinking. _How long is Duke going to be here?_ he wondered. _When Vince takes the aether out of him, will he die again?_ Of all the people in Haven, Nathan felt like Duke had gotten the short end of the stick. But he also knew there would be people in Haven who would not be so willing to welcome him back, Trouble-free or not. He remembered the fight he’d had with the Guardsman who had walked up to him after the Troubles had ended and said he’d wanted to shake the hand of the man who’d killed Duke Crocker.

* * *

  
In Dwight's truck, Dwight and Vince were having a conversation.

  
"How come he can't remember anything? He doesn't even know who _he_ is, much less how he came to be back here," Dwight was saying.

  
"He was _dead_ , Dwight--there isn't a blueprint for this sort of thing, you know," Vince answered crossly.

  
"He doesn't look dead anymore. When Gloria unzipped that body bag, I couldn't believe that Duke was in the same condition as when he went into it," Dwight began. "Is that the aether doing that?"

  
"Again, I do not know. Once we can get him into the Armory, perhaps we can start to find some answers."

  
"You think that's wise--putting him there with Croatoan?"

  
"Howard and I can keep Croatoan at bay while we try to fix Duke's problems. And this _is_ a problem, Dwight," Vince went on. "Howard has been speaking to Croatoan--and he feels that Duke may have become like Mara."

  
"What do you mean by that?" Dwight asked, not a little anxious.

  
"I mean that when Croatoan used aether on Mara to save her life as a child, the aether fused with her on a cellular level. That may explain why Duke did not decompose after death, because he did not _truly_ die; merely that he went into a state of hibernation. The aether may have preserved him. Kept him alive on a level than wasn’t detectable by our methods.”

  
"Maybe that's why I was able to see him afterwards," Dwight guessed. "He led me to Nathan and then both of us to the Armory--he saved us all, Vince." He smiled slightly. "And he told me how to keep Lizzie. And she stayed." He sobered. "Will she keep on staying?"

  
"Yes," Vince answered warmly. "I don't think that will change in any circumstance."

  
Dwight thought of something. "Does that mean that Duke can control the aether like Mara did? Can he cause Troubles?"

  
"Again, questions we will not know the answers to until we take him into the Armory," Vince pointed out.

  
"Because before he died, Duke could do that, cause a Trouble, but he couldn't control it; they were just coming out of him," Dwight said. "I hate it; I know he's Nathan's oldest friend; but maybe we should keep Duke confined to the Armory too before he remembers that he can."

  
"Well, we shall see," Vince replied. "But I agree--Duke--or whatever facsimile of him that this is--will need to be kept under close scrutiny."


	6. A Walk Down Non-Memory Lane

 

 

Once back at Nathan's, Audrey set to making coffee, while Nathan got Duke bundled off into a hot shower and then dry clothes. He left them on the bed for him, and came back out into the living room.

  
"How's he doing in there?" Dwight asked.

  
"He--seems all right," Nathan answered. "You tell him, ‘do this’, and he does it."

  
"Sure not like the Duke we knew," Dwight commented. "Everything was an argument." He glanced at Nathan. "He makes _you_ look like the chatterbox now."

  
"I don't think he's said ten words since we found him," Nathan said. He looked sad. "He doesn't remember anything. Given what happened, maybe it's just as well he doesn't."

  
"Pushing him to remember could do him more harm than good," Vince advised. "So I think we should just take it easy with the questions for the time being. I think keeping him calm will help. If he still does still have aether in him, we don’t want to agitate it any more than we have to."

  
"Troubles are triggered by strong emotions," Nathan remembered. "When Duke--" he broke off as the bedroom door opened and Duke emerged. He was wearing one of his old shirts that Nathan had set aside, intending on having it made into a teddy bear for Jean, Duke’s daughter. He'd never expected to see him wearing it again that much was for certain, he observed, as Duke joined them in the kitchen.

  
"I made coffee," Audrey told him. "Would you like some?"

  
Duke nodded.

  
"Yes," he answered, in that scratchy hoarse voice.

  
Nathan remembered Gloria telling him that he'd held onto Duke so tightly he'd partially crushed his larynx, and he realized that must be why Duke sounded the way he did, and he felt tears sting his eyes again.

  
He became aware of Audrey at his elbow.

  
"Come help me in the kitchen," she told him, drawing him away from where Vince and Dwight were getting Duke to sit down with them at the table.

  
"He sounds so awful—like it hurts him to speak," Nathan whispered. It was beginning to overwhelm him, first Duke washing ashore, and then coming to life again; and to have Audrey back once more was proving to be more than he could take at the moment, and tears tracked down his cheeks. "Gloria told me that I all but crushed his voice box. That must be why he sounds like that, and it's my fault," he choked.

  
"No, it was not your fault. Duke asked you to do it," Audrey lectured him sternly. "He thought it was the right thing to do. We _all_ thought it was the right thing to do; and Haven's still here because of it."

  
She held him close.

  
"Kind of putting you through the wringer today, aren't we?" she sniffled.

  
"He's like a stranger--someone you see from a distance and you think you know them, and when you get up close--"

  
"They're not who you thought they were," Audrey finished for him. She was quiet a moment. “Nathan—you have to understand that this may not really _be_ Duke. It may look like him, it may be Duke physically, but the thing made Duke who he was—that may be why he doesn’t remember anything, because that part of Duke that we knew and loved is really gone.”

  
“Vince said that it might be the aether, utilizing his body somehow,” Nathan whispered. “He’s _alive_ , Audrey. I could feel him breathing—his heartbeat when I hugged him. Whatever that means, I don’t know. But he’s here, Audrey. He shouldn’t be here—but yet he is.”

  
He wiped his eyes. “After—you left, the next day, I went down to the morgue and I helped Gloria get him ready—for his burial.”

  
“That’s another thing,” Audrey said. “ _How_ can he be alive? Wasn’t he embalmed?”

  
“No,” Nathan answered. “He wasn’t.”

  
“Doesn’t state law say that a body has to be embalmed? How’d Gloria get around that?”

  
“Gloria’s a sharp old bird,” Nathan grinned. “She told the state guy Duke was a Buddhist and didn’t believe in embalming,” Nathan confessed.

"I remember he was always quoting Buddha at me when I first met him," Audrey grinned. "Duke was about the most un-Buddha-like Buddhist I ever met."

“Well, Gloria got away with it, though; because with sea burial, you don’t want the body pumped full of toxic chemicals and then dumped in the ocean,” he went on.

  
“Duke would have hated that,” Audrey agreed. “We both know how he felt about pollution in the ocean.”

  
“I remember just being there with him—I talked to him,” he confessed. “I remember I told him that it was the first time I’d felt him since we fought the day my Trouble came back.”

  
“At least your Trouble hasn’t come back,” she smiled. “Or has it?”

  
“No, it hasn’t, not yet, anyway. Come on, let’s go talk to him,” he scrubbed his face, and rejoined Dwight and Vince, who were talking quietly with Duke.

  
Duke turned his eyes on Nathan. He didn’t look angry or upset, just regarding Nathan with a sort of curiosity.

  
“Why are you upset?” Duke asked, seeing Nathan's eyes were red.

“I’m not,” Nathan protested.

  
“It’s been a very trying day,” Dwight told him. “You—went away, Duke. We didn’t expect to see you anymore.”

  
“Why did I leave?”

  
“A lot of reasons,” Nathan said quietly. He wanted so much for Duke to sass him, give him one of his famous you-annoy-me-Nathan looks, hell, he’d settle for a tack in his back, _anything_ —but Duke merely sat there, watching him with an expression one might wear when meeting someone new—polite, but cautious.

  
“When we leave here, we’re going to take you somewhere, so that we can see what’s going on with your memory,” Vince was telling him.

  
“To a hospital?”

  
“Much like one,” Vince agreed. “If you’re up to it, I would like to try an experiment. Are you comfortable with that?”

  
Duke nodded assent.

  
“What are you going to do?” Nathan asked.

  
“Nothing that will hurt him,” Vince said mildly. “I’m going to say some words to you, and if they remind you of anything, you tell us. Would that be all right?”

  
Duke nodded.

  
“All right, let’s begin. Haven.”

  
Duke shook his head.

  
“Troubles," Vince said next.

  
“Am I in trouble?” Duke asked.

  
“No, you’re not in trouble,” Audrey smiled, touching his hand. “But it doesn’t mean anything to you?”

  
“Should it?”

  
“Let’s continue,” Vince interrupted. “Croatoan.”

  
Something akin to recognition flickered in Duke’s eyes.

  
“You remembered something,” Nathan told him. “What did you remember?”

  
“I don’t know—it kind of seemed…familiar, somehow.”

  
“We’ll try another,” Vince said. “Mara.”

  
“Who is Mara?”

  
“Wish I could forget Mara like that,” Dwight muttered and Audrey shushed him.

  
“Aether,” Vince toned, and Duke’s head went up and he looked at him.

  
“Aether,” Duke said, and he strained to remember, and Nathan could see he was growing frustrated with his uncooperative memory, and he put his hands over Duke’s.

  
“Enough,” he told Vince. “It’s okay, Duke. You don’t have to try to remember everything all at once.”

  
“I can’t remember _anything_ ,” Duke got out. “I know…I know something happened, something before…today—but I don’t know what happened!” he finished, his hoarse voice rising, and he banged his fist against the table.

  
It was then that Audrey saw the thin trickle of what she thought was blood exit Duke’s nose.

  
“Duke, you’re bleeding—“she began, and then stopped when she realized that was exiting Duke’s body was not blood—but _aether_.

  
Dwight jumped back from the table, startling Duke.

  
“He’s bleeding aether!” he blurted. “It’s like you said, Vince!”

  
Duke seemed panicky at Dwight's reaction, and Vince and Nathan both reached for him, putting their arms around him, and Vince drew him closer.

  
“Calm down!” Vince ordered. “Duke, look at me,” he told him sternly, his forehead pressed against Duke’s, his hand on the back of Duke’s neck. “Calm down. It is all right if you don’t remember,” he soothed. “I’m sorry if I brought back unpleasant memories.”

  
“There _is_ no memory,” Duke said softly. “There’s just…nothing there. I know there used to be—right?”

  
“Yes, there used to be,” Vince replied in a gentler tone. “And I can’t promise that we can get all of that back. But we can try.”

  
Nathan watched, both repelled and fascinated as the blackish substance disappeared back beneath the surface of Duke’s skin.

  
_Well, I guess that answers that question,_ he thought. _The aether brought Duke back to life; but for what purpose--to restart the Troubles? And if so, who’s responsible?_


	7. Yesterday Once More

 

 

After everyone had collected themselves, it was decided that at first light, they would set out for the Armory.

  
Duke seemed tired, his face worn and uncharacteristically pale.

  
"Why don't you try to rest a little?" Audrey told him. "We'll be right here."

  
"Would you stay with me-for just a while?" he asked.

  
"Of course," she answered, and Nathan felt that old flicker of jealousy. Duke seemed to be taking to her better than he did to them. But then again, Audrey had always had a way with him, he reflected. She had talked him back from the brink of destruction when Croatoan had control over him-and had stayed by his side till the moment his heart beat its last; because she’d wanted to him to know that he wasn’t leaving this world alone.

  
"Try to get some sleep--Duke," Nathan said. "You'll need your strength."

  
Vince herded Nathan and Dwight into the kitchen for a talk while Audrey got Duke situated on the sofa. He was about to speak when they spotted headlights in the driveway, and saw Gloria climbing out from behind the wheel.

  
Dwight admitted her as she approached the door and she zeroed in on Nathan.

  
"What the hell is this, somebody's _stolen_ Duke from the morgue? What kind of sickos are running around Haven?" she blustered, nearly in tears. "Is this the Guard's doing?" she rounded on Dwight.

"No, they wouldn't do that, Gloria," Dwight protested.

"And you two sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night," she questioned Nathan. "What gives?"

  
"Gloria, nobody stole Duke," Nathan assured her.

  
"Then where the hell is his body?"

  
"He’s in the living room."

  
"Have you flipped your lid?" Gloria asked, incredulous. "Taking a dead body from the--" she trailed off, seeing Vince. " _Vincent_? What are you doing here?"

  
"It's a long story," Vince told her. "Come on--we want you to see something."

  
Scowling, Gloria followed Vince into the living room, where she saw Audrey, seated next to Duke, who was napping.

  
"Ohh, Nathan, you need help," Gloria got out, seeing what she thought was a deceased Duke stretched out on the sofa, covered with a blanket. She was about to say something else, when Duke stirred and opened his eyes. He gazed at her for a few moments, and then recognition set in.

  
"Glor-Gloria?" he uttered.

  
"You _remembered_ her," Audrey gasped.

  
Gloria swayed slightly, but caught herself, an anxious Dwight behind her.

  
"Let's not make it two in a row, huh?" he muttered.

  
"Mm," Gloria grunted. She drew closer to Duke, and touched his arm, and then his face.

  
"You're alive. Oh, God, you're alive," she cried, and closed him in her arms. "What--how? When--hell, I don't care," she murmured, holding him closer again for a long moment, and then drew back.

  
"You're being quiet for a change," she smiled at him.

  
"He remembered you," Vince marveled. "Duke, what can you remember about Gloria?"

  
“I…remembered her name. That we—were friends, I think,” he said.

  
“Yes, we were friends, Kiddo,” she told him through her tears. She smoothed back his hair, cupping his jaw with her hand.

  
“I keep making people cry,” Duke told her, and she barked a laugh.

  
“Well, you’re kind of surprising people here, Kitten,” she sniffled, and then Nathan’s words settled into her consciousness. “He didn’t recognize you?” she asked over her shoulder.

  
Nathan shook his head. “He doesn’t remember. You’re the first person he’s recognized.”

  
“Does his miraculous return have anything to do with _your_ return?” Gloria asked Vince.

  
“We need to find that out. I came back here because there is a huge rift developing between the Void and Haven,” Vince began.

  
“A new thinny,” Audrey said.

  
“Yes—and one that was _not_ opened by Croatoan.”

  
“Could it have been William? He’d be the only other person inclined to want to start the Troubles again,” Nathan spoke.

  
“I don’t know. I’ve seen no signs of anyone from his world traveling into the Void, so if he did it, I don’t know how he did it. Yet another reason to take Duke to the Armory to examine him.”

  
“Take him there with that—that _monster_ that did this to him?” Gloria cried.

  
“Croatoan is well-secured. He cannot hurt Duke any longer.”

  
“Gloria, it’d be best if we examined him there,” Audrey explained. “Duke—he’s not like the Duke you knew.”

  
“What do you mean, because he’s lost his memory? He needs a hospital, not that—whatever that thing is.”

  
“Well, one returning from—well, the state he was in, for one,” Dwight pointed out. “And two, he’s still got that stuff in him. We’ve seen it.”

  
Gloria looked horrified. “I thought when you left it pulled all that crap out of everybody!”

“But Duke was gone before then,” Vince said. “His aether may have gone dormant. And when the rift happened, it—“

  
“It reactivated it,” Gloria finished. “That’s why he—why he’s here now,” she answered.

  
“What are you all talking about?” Duke asked.

  
Gloria held his hand in hers.

  
“The reason we all keep tap-dancing around what to tell you, honey, is there really is no easy way of telling someone that, well, that they’ve come back from the dead,” she told him.

  
“Dead?” Duke asked curiously. “I was dead and then—I was revived?”

  
“Yes, you were revived,” Gloria said. “But you didn’t just revive after a few minutes. Duke, you’ve been dead for almost a _year._ You were buried at sea; I was there, Nathan and Dwight were both there when you were,” she went on, seeing his startled expression. “Your casket washed ashore here yesterday, and you were brought into the morgue. Now, I examined you myself when they brought you in. You were as dead as a mackerel off Red Morton’s boat.”

  
“Gloria,” Audrey said desperately, but Gloria waved her off.

  
“We’re _through_ keeping secrets in this town,” Gloria said fiercely. “That’s what got us all into this mess in the first place,” she added, with a glaring glance at Vince, who did not flinch.

  
“We all did what we thought was best for the town, Gloria,” he answered evenly. “You yourself should know that, of all people.”

  
“Yeah, well, just because I was complicit in it didn’t mean I had to _like_ it,” Gloria retorted through gritted teeth. “The things you had this boy do, had his _family_ do—“

  
“I understand how you feel, Gloria,” Nathan put in. “But you’re upsetting Duke. Aether thrives off emotions and you winding him up is not helping him.”

  
“I’m sorry if I’m upsetting you, Duke,” Gloria turned back to him. “But you deserve to know.”

  
“Thank you for telling me,” Duke told her. “I still don’t remember any of that, but now I know why they all looked so uneasy with me.”

  
He looked down at his arms, and touched his nose.

  
“You think it’s—inside of me? This—aether?”

  
Vince sat up suddenly, as if he were listening to something, and then addressed the little gathering.

  
“Howard has asked me to return immediately—the rift is growing larger, I fear,” he told them. “He has also said that Croatoan has asked to see Duke.”

  
“I’ll just bet he did,” Nathan said bitterly. “Not a chance in Hell."

  
“I am beginning to wonder if we should allow it,” Vince replied.

  
“ _Why_?”

  
“Because Croatoan is scared,” Vince stated. “Really, truly afraid.”

  
“What could he _possibly_ be afraid of?” Audrey asked.

  
“Of whoever or whatever it is that is causing this rift between worlds. If it’s strong enough to do that, strong enough to cause this storm _and_ to bring Duke back from the dead,” Vince began ominously, but the little group got the idea.

  
“Then maybe we need to see what Croatoan has to say about it,” Audrey said.

  
“I shall make the arrangements,” Vince answered, and vanished.

  
“Well, that’s one way to get aroun—“Gloria began, and stopped when she saw Duke wince in pain, his hands clamped around his head. “What’s the matter, kiddo?”

  
“Feels like…my head’s exploding,” Duke groaned, crying in pain.

  
Nathan and Dwight laid him down while Gloria examined him. Duke’s breathing grew shallow, his eyes screwed tightly shut, his face lined with pain.

  
“ _Do_ something!” Nathan urged.

  
“I don’t know what the matter is with him _to_ do something!” Gloria yelled, frustrated. “Call an ambulance; he may be having a stroke or an aneurysm. Hang on, kitten, we’ll get you help.”

  
Duke opened his eyes again. Gloria could see his pupils were blown wide open, and his breathing had all but become nonexistent. His face relaxed, and his body went limp.

  
“No,” Gloria cried, feeling for Duke’s wrists. “Oh, no, no!”

  
Suddenly, Duke gave a convulsive jerk, and drew in a huge intake of breath, and lay gasping for a few moments, before he looked around himself.

  
“Let’s not do that anymore,” he got out, struggling to sit up.

  
“Are you all right?” Nathan asked.

  
“I think so,” Duke muttered, shaking his head. He looked around. “What are we doing at your house?”

  
“We brought you here—we found you out on the pier in back of the Gull, remember?” Audrey said, puzzled.

  
“No—last thing I remember was being grabbed from behind at Haven PD,” Duke said, and Nathan gasped. “Duke! You remember? “

  
Duke nodded. “I remember.”

  
“What else do you remember?”

  
“Unfortunately….everything.”


	8. Reunited And It Feels So...Awkward

 

 

Duke stood up off the couch, a little shaky, Gloria and Audrey's arms around him.

  
It was then that Gloria noticed that she was Audrey, not Paige.

  
"Changed again, have you?" she commented. "Need to hand out programs so we can tell who you are from day to day."

  
"I'm temporary," Audrey told her.

  
"What do you mean, temporary?" Duke asked.

  
"Audrey left with Croatoan and Vince in the Armory," Nathan said evenly, and Duke swung around to look at him. "She came back as Paige Harrison--with James."

  
"James!" Duke exclaimed. “You mean James _Cogan_?”

  
"He's a baby now," Nathan replied. "But it is James Cogan, or rather, Harrison." He smiled slightly. "Although, it’s soon to be James Wuornos."

  
"Now my head hurts again," Duke grumbled, and Nathan had to smile at him. Duke shook his head in disbelief.

  
"So after all that," he remarked, glancing between Nathan and Audrey, but he didn't finish his sentence. He then saw Dwight, who been observing the proceedings.

  
"Sasquatch," Duke said.

  
"Duke," Dwight replied.

  
"How are things with Lizzie working out?"

  
"They're good. They're really good," Dwight smiled, and then sobered. "Thank you for what you did, Duke,” he said sincerely. “You gave me my life back."

  
"I didn't do anything," Duke told him. “That was all _you,_ big guy,” he poked Dwight in the chest.

  
"You mean you remember helping us after--"

  
"You mean after Nathan suffocated me to death? A little," Duke said, seeing Nathan's stricken face. "I remember seeing you two struggling, trying to find Audrey."

  
"How did you do it?" Nathan asked, unable to help himself and Duke grinned a little.

  
"Croatoan didn't get _every_ Trouble out of me, y'know."

  
"You used the Reincarnation Trouble," Audrey said.

  
"Nope—I used the _Hopkins_ Trouble," Duke answered. "I focused on it when I was having that whole life-flashing-before-my-eyes-thing while Nathan was--"

  
"Killing you," Nathan said softly.

  
"--And I remembered he was the first Troubled person I ever killed--well, technically he threw himself on the knife I was holding but I still absorbed his Trouble. So I envisioned _myself_ coming back from the grave," Duke went on, ignoring Nathan's remark. "But when I did, Nathan was off with Fraudrey, and I was afraid that if the _real_ Audrey saw me, so would Croatoan and he might make another try for me,” he went on. “So when I saw that wasn't going to work, I went and found you," he nodded at Dwight. "And once my 'unfinished business' was finished--"

  
"You disappeared," Dwight said.

  
"You might've dropped by my office _too_ before you left, kid," Gloria admonished.

  
Duke turned and hugged her close.

  
"I wanted to, but I was losing ground. I couldn't make myself stay until the Troubles were gone," he told her softly. "I'm sorry for what I said to you in the police station that day. That was what I would have told you if I could have seen you,” he finished, his eyes bright. “I am _so_ sorry for that, Gloria."

  
"I know you didn't mean it, honey," Gloria replied warmly. "Just glad you're back again."

  
"While this is all wonderful, the clock is ticking here," Dwight reminded them.

  
“We need to get to the Armory,” Nathan said. “Gloria, will you be all right getting back home?”

  
“Home, schmome, where you go, I go,” she retorted.

  
“It could be dangerous, Gloria,” Dwight protested.

  
“I don’t care,” she answered. “I’d like to see this Croatoan character and give him a piece of my mind for all the trouble, pardon the expression, he caused around here.”

  
“Get in line,” Dwight cracked.

  
“Let’s find out what he knows about whom or whatever is causing the rift first before you guys lynch him, huh?” Audrey said.

  
Dwight and Gloria grudgingly nodded agreement, and they set out.

  
The wind and rain had certainly not slacked off, and Nathan cast a nervous eye toward the sky. Duke followed suit, and let out a gasp.

  
“Nathan, stop,” Duke said suddenly.

  
“What’s the matter?”

  
“Just stop the car, Nathan! Let me out for a second!”

  
Nathan slowed the Bronco to a stop, Dwight’s truck stopping behind it.

  
Duke walked around to the edge of the road, his eyes on something out on the ocean.

  
“What’s the matter?” Dwight yelled from his truck.

  
Audrey climbed out of her side of the Bronco and came to stand alongside Duke, both their faces pale.

  
“What is it? What are you looking at?” Nathan called over the storm, joining them.

  
“That,” Duke gestured.

  
Nathan followed their gaze. It looked like storm clouds, dark black and angry, so dense they seemed to block out the ocean. With a start, he realized they weren’t blocking out the ocean; they were absorbing it. Whatever this was seemed to be blocking out the entire horizon…or eradicating it.

  
“What the hell is that?” he yelled.

  
“That’s what I’m hoping Croatoan can tell us,” Audrey said.

  
“I’ve seen that before,” Duke uttered.

  
“What? Where?” Nathan asked.

  
“I-I can’t explain exactly where I saw it. It was when Croatoan took control of me,” he began. “One second I was in the police station, and the next, I was…nowhere,” he continued. “And then, I was me…but I wasn’t me anymore.”

  
“He pulled you into the Void to hitch his way out,” Audrey said. “We saw it on the cameras when he took you.”

  
“That’s when he turned you into a Trouble Collector,” Nathan toned.

  
“Yeah,” Duke sighed, the memory clearly painful. “At any rate, that was what I saw when he pulled me in,” Duke pointed. “I saw that when I—vanished.”

  
“What is it?” Nathan questioned.

  
“It doesn’t have a specific form, Nathan, it just is,” Duke told him. “I nicknamed it The Nothing, after the monster in The Neverending Story that was devouring the kingdom of the Child-Like Empress.” He tilted his head, listening. “You don’t hear that?”

  
“Hear what?”

  
“I hear it,” Audrey said, her eyes frightened. “It’s like a low growling sound.”

  
“A hum,” Duke answered. “Reminds me of the Taos Hum, but this isn’t that. It’s that,” he pointed. “That thing is made out of aether,” he went on, seeing their horrified faces.

  
“It’s impossible,” Nathan breathed his eyes wide. He’d seen how much aether had been in the mine shaft when Charlotte and Audrey went to gather it to make the Aether Core; but this nebulous cloud was hundreds, _thousands_ of times larger than that had been!

  
_Millions, perhaps billions of little Trouble balls, all in search of a new home_ , Nathan thought. He couldn’t hear what Duke and Audrey were hearing; but judging by their expressions, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it.

  
“The aether mother-lode,” Nathan paled, thinking of what would happen when it got close enough to Haven. “Come on, let’s go,” he urged. “We’re not getting any closer to a solution standing here.”

  
“What’s the matter?” Gloria called from the passenger window.

  
“Weather’s turning nastier,” Nathan fibbed. “Storm’s moving in from offshore.”

  
“Well, I could’ve told you that and saved you the drubbing,” Gloria sniped as the three soaked friends got back into the Bronco and Nathan put it in gear.

* * *

 

A short time later, they arrived at Arrow Park.

  
“Is it still there?” Nathan asked, seeing only empty space.

  
“It’s there,” Duke said, peering up at seemingly nothing. “Do you want to knock or shall I?” he asked Audrey.

  
Before Audrey could answer, the Armory suddenly appeared, as though it had always been there, and Vince appeared in the doorway.

  
“You made it at last,” he said, anxious. “Was the weather holding you up?”

  
“Tell him about the giant aether-cloud,” Nathan muttered as they entered into the endless white hallways.

  
“So it is true,” said a voice from behind them, and Croatoan appeared. "Duke, you're alive!"

Dwight and Nathan put themselves between Croatoan and Duke, and Croatoan held up his hands in peace.

  
“Don’t worry; I’m not going to hurt him. Vincent has promised _me_ a hurting if I try,” he remarked, casting a glance at the glaring older man.

  
Dwight and Nathan moved marginally aside, so that Duke and Croatoan were facing one another.

  
“So how do you feel, Duke? Better?” Croatoan asked. “Head still hurting?”

  
“ _You_ did that?” Duke asked.

  
“I did.”

  
Before anyone could react, Duke lashed out and punched Croatoan in the mouth. He staggered back, clutching at his lip. “Ow! What’d you do _that_ for?”

  
“ _You have the gall to ask me that?_ ” Duke half-yelled at him. "I almost died all over again!"

  
“Well, that’s gratitude for you,” Croatoan mumbled. “In order to reboot your memory, I had to do you like you people would do to a computer that's frozen."

"You shut him off and restarted him," Dwight commented. "I think that may be the nuttiest thing I've ever heard, and I'm _from_ Haven."

"It worked, didn't it?" Gloria said out of the side of her mouth.

"I rebooted your memory for you and this is the thanks I get," Croatoan huffed. "I knew it would make your head hurt, but at least you wouldn’t be wandering around like Little Aether-Sheep Lost anymore. And you hit me."

  
“I’d say you had that one coming,” Nathan remarked unsympathetically. “Now—what do you know about this—thing that’s causing the storm?”

  
“That thing, as you call it, is an Aether Nebula,” Croatoan began. “I’d only ever seen one once before, and that was before Columbus even set foot in this part of the world,” he continued. “And it was nowhere near as large as this one is. It is big, isn’t it?”

  
The trio nodded.

  
“What’s big? What were you looking at outside on the cliffs?” Dwight asked.

  
“A giant aether-cloud,” Audrey said. “And it’s headed right for us.”

  
“The question is, how do we stop it?” Nathan stated. “Can you?” he asked Croatoan.

  
“I don’t know that I can,” Croatoan said somberly. “It may be beyond even the range of _my_ powers.”

  
“Great,” Dwight groaned.

  
“But—I might could defeat it,” Croatoan continued. _“If_ I had help.”

  
“You want Audrey back,” Nathan growled.

  
“Oh, no, not just her,” Croatoan said. “I’m afraid this will have to be a two-part deal. I will need _Duke’s_ help as well.”

  
“Now you wait just a damned minute!” Gloria fumed, stomping over. “You’re not getting your claws back into that boy!”

  
“Ah, the good Dr. Verrano,” Croatoan beamed. “Are you going to hit me too?”

  
“Don’t tempt me,” Gloria retorted. “You might not think a lot of our world, it might be messed up, but we like it pretty good. Not to mention that your daughter and your grandchild live here too! You’d think you’d be a bit more concerned about them!”

  
“Dear lady, I am concerned about them,” Croatoan explained patiently. “Because that aether nebula isn’t here just for Haven. It’s here for your whole realm,” he went on. “And what it’s doing here…it’s doing in our world too,” he directed at Audrey. “I am trying to keep things light and calm because inside I want to run and hide from this thing, only there is nowhere to run _to_ ,” he finished, breathing hard. “So please—I need your help. Vince needs your help. This thing couldn’t _possibly_ begin to contain all of that.”

  
“What can we do?”

  
“We can try to drive it back into the Void—and seal it off for good—on both sides.”

  
“Well, between the Armory and you, that shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Dwight questioned.

  
Croatoan and Vince glanced at each other uneasily.

  
“Easier said than done,” Croatoan replied.


	9. A Hint of Troubles

 

 

After Croatoan's surprise statement saying that he would need both Audrey and Duke's help, Nathan was at a loss for words; but he quickly got over his shock.

  
"Why Duke?" he demanded. "Why do you still need him?"

  
"Because Duke is special," Croatoan said. "Oh, he was special enough before, but now--" he gestured dramatically. "Look at him! He _literally_ came back from the dead! If that isn't special enough for you, I don't know what else to tell you."

  
"Vince said that you think he's become like Mara," Nathan went on, seeing Duke's surprised expression. "Care to elaborate on that point?"

  
"I say _may_ have become like Mara," Croatoan pointed out to him. "I don't think Duke has anywhere near her level of skill, in regards to being able to utilize aether. But on a cellular level, yes, I think that like Mara, the aether bonded with him; possibly due to his long-term exposure passed down through his bloodline."

  
"You mean because of his Trouble," Nathan said flatly.

  
"Yes, his _Trouble_ , if you persist in calling it that," Croatoan answered.

  
He looked at Duke. "I think the aether kept you from fully dying. It kept you alive in a state of hibernation, _underwater_ , for almost a year! That's very impressive, Duke, whether or not you want to believe that!" he enthused.

  
"I just want it out of me," Duke grumbled. "Why didn't the Armory pull the aether from my body after I was dead?"

  
"Because it was dormant," Croatoan explained. "Aether in a dormant state is little more than a black sphere--inert, torpid, ineffective. You weren't utilizing it anymore, so it shut down."

  
He paced around Duke. "Of course, this is all speculation until we get a better look at you, of course," he addressed him. "And, if it will make you feel better, Dr. Verrano can be in attendance when we--or rather, Vincent and I, examine him."

  
"I was going to be there whether you invited me or not," Gloria informed him. "I don't trust you further than I could throw you."

  
"Fair enough," Croatoan replied. "Prickly, isn't she?" he said in an aside to Nathan.

  
"You ain't seen nothin' yet," Nathan replied, and Audrey suppressed a grin.

 

* * *

 

After a cursory examination, Vince, Gloria and Croatoan determined that Duke was physically well, considering the circumstances of his reappearance, and oddly enough, he did not have the DNA marker for Troubles.

  
"Then how can he have aether in him then?" Audrey asked while Duke put his tank top back on.

  
"The same as you, Dove," Croatoan smiled at her, touching her cheek.

  
"Can you get this out of me, yes or no?" Duke interrupted. He seemed agitated, and Nathan was secretly glad that they were within the confines of the Armory, which meant that the aether Duke held in his body was neutralized.

  
Vince looked grieved. "I don't think it's possible," he told him, a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's part of you now. Likely, it always has been-but it wasn't until your Trouble was activated that it awoke."

  
Duke looked dismayed, and Gloria rubbed his shoulder affectionately.

  
"You _feel_ it, don't you? Just as Mara could sense it," Croatoan said. "You knew that the Aether Nebula wasn't just clouds, you could see it, I mean really see it, as Audrey could see it."

  
"Nathan saw it too," Audrey pointed out.

  
"Did you, Nathan?" Vince questioned thoughtfully.

"Once I got a good look at it, I could see what it was," Nathan answered.

  
"But you were also with them, correct?" Croatoan said.

  
"Yeah."

  
"Now you see why I want their help. They are both intimately tied to aether," Croatoan told him.

  
"I'd prefer you not use the term _intimately_ when referring to this me and this gunk," Duke grouched. "It's not going to be like before, is it?" he asked.

  
"No, no," Vince hastily reassured him. "I think what Croatoan is trying to say is that you don't have to worry about releasing Troubles accidentally. That can't happen anymore. Nor will you have to release any, as you had to do before."

  
"Well, that's a relief," Dwight sighed. "But what does Duke being able to feel aether have to do with what's happening now?"

  
"Because he can control it, once he learns how," Croatoan replied.

  
"How long would that take?" Nathan asked.

  
Croatoan sighed. "Questions, questions, you people are like a group of two-year-olds! Look, Audrey has learned some control in the time she's been gone. I believe Duke could learn it too."

  
"It's just focus and intent, right?" Duke remarked.

  
"Just the same as when you meditate," Croatoan replied. "I think you could do it if you tried. You're a fast learner, Duke, a very quick study. I should know--I spent quite a bit a time in your head, if you remember," he finished slyly, and Duke's face darkened.

  
" _I_ remember," Duke said nastily

.  
"So I know what you're capable of," Croatoan told him.

 

* * *

 

After hammering out their initial plans, the little group left Vince and Croatoan and exited the Armory, surprised to see that it was still dark out.

  
"We must not have been as long as we thought," Gloria remarked. "It still hasn't dawned yet."

  
Nathan looked at his watch. "Actually, it's 11:30 in the morning," he got out, surprising the little group. "I better get in touch with Stan and Milcheck and see what's going on."

  
"I'm gonna call McHugh and see where Lizzie is. I don't imagine they had school today with this rain," Dwight put in, and helped Gloria into the passenger side, and they drove off towards Haven.

  
"Chief, you there?" he heard the call on the radio.

  
"Go ahead, Laverne," Nathan said.

  
"Been lookin' for you, hon," Laverne began briskly. "Got a report of a body down on the marina," she went on. "It's Lester Moffat."

  
Nathan released the hand button, looking at Audrey.

  
"Wasn't he Troubled?" he asked, and both Audrey and Duke nodded.

  
"Yeah," Duke answered. "We called him Lucky Les the Fish Whisperer. I think that was his Trouble, he could attract them. He always had the biggest catches."

  
"Looks like he's landed his last catch," Nathan muttered. "What happened, Laverne?"

  
"His crew says he started gasping for air like he couldn't breathe and then he just keeled over. Strange circumstances, the paramedics say, no allergies, no obstruction in his airways, cardiac arrest, nothing."

  
"Strange circumstances," Nathan grumbled.

Sounds like medical jargon for Troubles," Audrey murmured.

"All right, Laverne, I'll be there as soon as I can," Nathan radioed back, and he clicked off the handset.

  
"He couldn't breathe. That sounds a lot like Kirk Bauer's old Trouble," Duke said, glancing back toward the ocean, towards the Aether Nebula.

  
"Are the Troubles returning?" Nathan asked. "Can you feel if they are?"

  
"I don't _know_ , honestly," Duke replied. He frowned. "I'd hate to think all this happened because of me."

"This isn't your doing, Duke," Audrey said. "Why would you even think that?"

  
"Because of me--washing ashore," Duke muttered. He kicked a rock with his boot. "It's not _natural_ , Audrey. I should be _dead_. I should be bones at the bottom of the ocean. But I'm not," he went on. "I feel like that guy you told me about that his mother taxidermied using her Trouble so he'd live again."

  
"But you're not stuffed, Duke," Nathan told him.

  
"No, just stuffed full of aether," Duke retorted. He glanced back towards where the Armory was. "Maybe I should stay here in the Armory while you guys go to investigate."

  
"Duke, we need you," Nathan replied, but Duke shook his head.

  
"Remember, Nathan, everyone knows I'm dead, or supposed to be," Duke said. "They see me, they're going to immediately leap to one conclusion: the Troubles are back. The last thing you need is a mass panic in the middle of all this," he gestured at the weather. "Troubles are triggered by emotions, remember. A town full of fear would be like ringing the dinner bell for that thing out there."

  
"I hate to admit it, but he's right," Audrey put in. She touched Duke's arm. "Vince won't let Croatoan do anything to you, you know that," she soothed, seeing his worried face. "Believe it or not, he is trying to learn to make amends. Maybe a good way to do that would be helping you learn to control the aether."

  
"If you remember, Vince Teagues wasn't exactly the most trustworthy person either," Nathan answered, and Audrey smiled.

  
"It's a little different now, though, isn't it?" she told the pair. "We'll be back as soon as we can," she assured Duke.

  
"Don't let them give you too hard a time," Nathan advised, and then hugged Duke tightly. This time, Duke returned it warmly.

  
"I'm glad you're here," Nathan said with a catch in his voice. "Duke, I--"

  
"Look, we're going to settle this, right here and now," Duke answered sternly. "You are going to _stop_ beating yourself up over what happened, Nathan Wuornos. You only did what we all thought was the right thing to do. It sucked, it wasn't fair, but who the hell said life was fair?" Duke smiled.

  
"Can you ever forgive me?" Nathan asked, his voice hoarse. "I'm the reason you--sound like you do."

  
"I think these guys can fix me so I sound normal again," Duke smiled. "And yes, I forgive you, Nate. I did that a long time ago. Now get outta here, I got stuff to do," he finished. "You can't keep dragging me around to help you solve maybe-Troubles, y'know."

  
"It's only the one so far," Nathan pointed out.

  
"And let's hope it stays that way," Duke remarked.


	10. Troubled Waters Ahead

 

 

 

Audrey and Nathan made their way down the dock, where Lester Moffat's boat, _The Annie M_ , was docked. Paramedics were just unloading the stretcher bearing Moffat's body on it, and Gloria looked up.

  
"Well, here we are again," she said, glancing the pair over.

  
"What do you have, Gloria?" Nathan asked.

  
"I got this," she said, bending down to reveal Moffat's aether-smudged eyes.

  
"Who is doing this? And how?" Nathan said.

  
"Our most likely suspect is under lock and key with Vince. And we know it isn't D--anyone else," she went on. "So now what?"

  
"Maybe we need to start keeping an eye out for William then," Nathan said under his breath.

  
"Whatever you're gonna do, do it soon. People are already talking about that the Troubles might be back," Dwight spoke, stepping into the little huddle. "I've had six phone calls from old Guard members in the last half hour. They've seen Audrey back. They think that means the Troubles must be back also."

  
"Tell them it's Paige--she dyed her hair blonde, just to try it," Nathan suggested, and Dwight shot him a look.

  
"I'll give it a try--but Paige and Audrey is two completely different people, Nathan," Dwight chided. "They're so different in their personalities, just like Audrey and you-know-who were," he finished. He glanced around, and leaned in closer.

  
"Where's Duke? Surprised you don't have him with you."

  
"He's back at the Armory," Nathan murmured. "He thinks that the sight of him will send people into a panic that the Troubles really are back."

  
"He's right," Dwight noted. "If they're upset about seeing _Audrey_ around town, Duke would send Haven into a meltdown after what happened before."

  
"Vince, Howard and Croatoan are going to try to teach him how to control aether--so when this Nebula-thing makes a try for Haven, maybe they can fight it back," Nathan sighed. "It's got to work--there's no second-string, they're it."

  
"I just have such a bad, bad feeling about Croatoan being involved in _any_ form when it comes to Crocker," Dwight said, frowning.

  
"That makes two of us," Nathan answered. "But he knows how to deal with the stuff. We don't. Vince is going to make sure that he doesn't try anything underhanded with Duke."

  
"I hope you're right, Nate," Dwight exhaled. "Because people are worried; this storm's lasted twelve hours and shows no signs of stopping, and now with Audrey here too--" he broke off, nodding at the little group of people on the dock talking among themselves. They saw Nathan and Audrey looking at them, and the group dispersed, still talking to one another.

  
Audrey paused for a moment.

"I'm gonna try something," she whispered, and then stepped toward the group.

  
"Hi, Mrs. Thorndyke," she greeted one of the women.

  
"Oh, hi, um, Officer Parker," Emma Thorndyke said.

  
Audrey wrinkled up her face.

  
"Officer Parker?" she chuckled. "No, Mrs. Thorndyke, it's me, Paige Harrison--your son Billy is in my class." She swirled her hair around. "I changed my hair. Do you like it?"

  
Emma Thorndyke's face lit up with a mix of recognition and relief.

  
"Oh, Paige!" she exclaimed. "Your hair--it's--it's so different. You look just like someone that used to live around here with your hair that color."

  
"Really?" Audrey said, widening her eyes the way Paige did when she was surprised.

  
"Was the new hair color your idea or Nathan's?" Emma asked not unkindly. "He used to be rather sweet on this other girl who looked like you. Her hair was blonde, though."

  
"Audrey, her name was Audrey. He's told me about her," Audrey answered, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. "People used to think I was her when I first came here, I remember."

  
"Well, they'll certainly think it again with that hair color, Paige," Emma responded. "But it's--a very nice color, and if you're happy with it, who cares what other people think?" she finished. "See you for coffee on Saturday with the playgroup?"

  
"Sure," Audrey replied distantly, and Emma waved and set off toward the parking lot.

  
She turned and walked back to Nathan and Dwight, who were regarding her with their mouths slightly open.

  
"I have _her_ memories too, you know. Paige is still here, under the surface," Audrey told them. "She's--sleeping. When I'm gone, she'll think it was all a dream."

  
"So your memories _were_ bleeding through into hers," Nathan said. "She told me she dreamed that she and I and Duke were at a birthday party on a deserted island. Sound familiar?"

  
"Carpenter's Knot," Audrey murmured. "I don't know. Maybe we need to ask Vince about it."

  
"First, we need to go and get James," Nathan told her. "Vicky's got him down at the morgue."

  
"Oh, Nathan--he's going to know for sure I'm not his mother," Audrey whispered. "Maybe I should dye my hair brown for now."

  
"No," Nathan said. "He's an eighteen-month-old baby. He'll know you're his mom--no matter who you are right now," he smiled.

  
Audrey affectionately squeezed his hand.

  
"I hope you're right," she said.

  
Dwight frowned, looking at his phone.

  
"James may have to wait," he told them. "Just got a message from a former Guard member--Denny Lillet just got run over by his tractor. His farm hand _swears_ he saw it start itself up and run him down."

  
"That's Louis Pufahl's old Trouble," Nathan said. "It sounds like this Aether Nebula is already trying to infect people in outlying areas of Haven with Troubles."

  
"Yeah, but they're not the same Troubles they had before," Dwight said. "Maybe that's why they're dying--their bodies can't handle it."

  
"I don't know," Audrey spoke. "But I think we need to get back to the Armory and see how the first-string is coming along."

  
"Hope Duke's ready to rumble," Dwight muttered. "Because I get the feeling this is only the beginning."


	11. It's All Fun & Games Until Someone Gets Troubled

 

Duke and Croatoan stood next to one another in a cavernous room inside the Armory. Vince stood a short distance away, observing them.

  
Ahead of them, a car-sized cloud of Aether swirled around inside of a glassed-in container. As they neared it, it seemed to become more active.

"What's it doing?" Duke asked uneasily.

"It senses us," Croatoan told him. "Now watch--and do as I do."

  
He outstretched his hand toward the container, and the aether seemed to close in compactly on itself, coalescing into a larger ball, until he dropped his hand, and the aether spheres dispersed, returning to the cloud formation.

  
He nudged Duke. "Now you try," he said.

  
Duke did as Croatoan asked, and stretched his hand out at the aether cloud, which continued to swirl around inside the case, paying him no mind.

  
"You're not concentrating," Croatoan sing-songed. "Forget about your little pals and what's going on in the outside world. "Focus on this, and only this," he continued. " _This_ is the only thing that matters right now. Remember what Sifu Tan told you when you were living in Japan."

  
Duke glanced at him, and Croatoan raised his eyebrows

  
"I told you I did spend a good deal of time in there," he tapped Duke's forehead.

  
This time, Duke glared at him, and then looked thoughtful.

  
"I haven't thought about Sifu Tan in years," he said softly. "He was the one who got me started on meditation and yoga."

  
"He taught you that to give you an outlet for all that anger you had from your childhood," Croatoan said. "I think he felt that darkness in you even then."

  
Duke thought back to his first encounter with the older Asian gentleman.

* * *

  
He was eighteen-he'd gotten a job crewing on a barge that had landed in Kamakura and Duke had gone ashore, wandering the city. There, he had encountered Tan Fugishawa at his market when he'd stopped to buy a bottled Coke.

  
Upon returning to the dock, Duke found that he'd been marooned; the crooked skipper had opted to cut the youngster completely out of his share of the money from they job they'd done, and sailed off, leaving Duke stranded over 6600 miles from home.

  
He'd gone back into town to try to find some food to steal, and there he'd encountered the man he'd met earlier in the day while trying to steal some pork buns from his store.

Rather than being angry or turning Duke over to the authorities, he gave him the buns, and invited Duke to have tea with him.

  
"Why so angry?" he'd asked the then 18-year-old Duke.

  
For some reason, Duke had felt that he could trust the old man, and over the course of the afternoon, he talked to Sifu Tan about his mother, his father, what his life in Haven had been like, the ship's crew hassling him because he was so young, and life in general. Tan had listened to Duke rant and rage, and when he had finished, Tan spoke.

  
"It is easy to see why you are so angry and vengeful. But you cannot hold onto anger, Duke-san," Sifu Tan had advised. "Buddha teaches that holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."

  
That had put things in a different light for Duke. Tan took an interest in the youngster, and began to teach him how to calm himself when he became angry, to let things go, and some basic yoga poses to supplement both mind and body. He hired Duke on as a delivery boy, and gave him a place to live in the storage loft above his store.

  
Duke had quickly found out that if he was not concentrating on the pose, it wouldn't work, and he finally learned to corral that wandering mind of his.

  
It would be nearly a year before Duke left Japan on a different ship; and he left it a changed man--a man no longer prone to flying off the handle, as his father had done, but one that had learned to keep control of himself and his temper.

* * *

Duke closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath, and exhaled it slowly, stretching his neck. He put Nathan and Audrey and Haven out of his mind; and listened to the soft swishing sound the aether made as it swirled.

  
He opened his eyes, and outstretched his hand again, seeing his intention of making the aether form into a ball in his mind, and to his amazement, the spheres began to draw themselves in closer together, forming a ripply-shape ball before disintegrating back into the cloud.

  
Croatoan glanced back at Vince, and then back at Duke.

  
"Very impressive, for a first try," Croatoan stated. "Now try again."

* * *

Nathan and Audrey walked across the pasture to where Stan and Rafferty were waiting next to a sheet-covered form on the ground.

  
"Hey, Chief-- _A-Audrey_?" Stan got out.

"No, it's Paige. She changed her hair," Nathan said quickly, playing on Audrey's earlier deception with Emma Thorndyke at the harbor.

  
"Wow," Rafferty said. "She looks just like--"

  
"Yes, I know," Audrey put in, and Rafferty looked embarrassed. "Sorry, Officer Rafferty," Audrey finished hastily. "I thought I'd change my hair just to try it out, not scare everybody into thinking the whatsidoosits are back, whatever they were."

  
"There's a reason people are scared about that," Rafferty told her. "Get Chief Wuornos to tell you about them sometime."

  
"Well, right now, I'm more curious to hear about what happened to Mr. _Lillet,_ " Nathan stated a bit firmly.

  
"Sorry Chief," Rafferty apologized. "Okay, Lillet's wife Carolyn, said that Denny had fixed on the tractor all day yesterday, the engine belt had snapped," Rafferty began, reading from her notebook. "Anyway, he stopped for the night and finally finished repairs this morning. Gary Landon, the farmhand, said the tractor was in perfect working order, it ran all morning, until they stopped for lunch. They were walking up to the house when they heard the tractor start back up and come straight across the field toward them. Both men started to run back towards it to stop and it changed direction," she continued. "Lillet got his foot wedged in a gopher hole and was trying to pull it out when-"

  
"When he got run down," Nathan finished.

  
"How horrible!" Audrey said in her best Paige voice, but inside, her mind was ticking.

  
_Why aren't the Troubles returning to their original owners?_ she wondered.

  
Nathan chatted with the other two officers for a moment, and then he steered Audrey out further toward the cornfield.

  
"This is strange," he began. "Why aren't the Troubles returning to whoever had them before? I figured they'd be like homing pigeons, and return to the nest, so to speak."

  
"I don't know," Audrey replied. "They're not working like they did before either."

"What do you mean?"

  
"Louis Pufahl's Trouble affected machinery. But the alive machines _protected_ him, not attacked and killed him," Audrey figured. "That might be what happened with Lester Moffat too."

  
"He got Kirk Bauer's old Trouble and instead of sucking the air away from everyone else, he smothered himself to death," Nathan added. "The Trouble is backfiring on whoever gets it."

  
"Either way, we have to figure out a way to stop whoever this is," Audrey said. "I just hope Duke is making progress."

  
"I hope so too," Nathan answered, glancing at the rainy skies, knowing what was concealed behind the clouds--and how much longer it would be before everyone knew what was lurking above them.


	12. For Every Action...

 

Dwight Hendrickson slogged through the mud towards the outlying building. Here was where Vince Teagues had kept all his Guard files, where all the files on the Troubled were stored.

  
He frowned at the door. He hadn't been in here in a while. The Troubles were finally gone, at least, that's what they'd all believed. He'd actually thought of burning the place down, to eradicate the memory forever. But as Gloria had pointed out to him, "Some things need to be remembered. Otherwise, everybody who died because of the Troubles died for nothing."

  
Dwight had heeded her advice. And now he was glad he had, as he unlocked the heavy padlock securing the door and stepped inside.

  
It was built like a an old-style Quonset hut, long and low, with another two levels down from the surface. Vince and Dave had been through the Troubles twice before in their lives, and they knew the value of a good stronghold if the need arose.

  
Vince appeared a few feet away from him, and Dwight startled.

  
"I'm never gonna get used to you doing that," he exhaled.

  
"I hope that you will not need to," Vince answered.

  
"How's Duke's--practice--going?"

  
"He's learning," Vince said. "Almost faster than I'd anticipated. Then again, Duke was always very bright--just a little bit quicker on seeing things most people miss."

  
"If you say so," Dwight answered dubiously, opening a file cabinet drawer.

  
"He knew Audrey was pretending to be Lexie before any of us did," Vince stated. "And if Simon had been able to control his Trouble the way Duke did, the Guard might be very different today." He looked sad. "But like so many of his line before him, he couldn't."

  
"We've had another death," Dwight told him. "Denny Lillet's tractor came to life and ran him down. Nathan and Audrey say that whoever gets the Trouble ends up being killed by it--they're backfiring," he went on. "And these aren't the people that had these Troubles before."

  
"That's what is so puzzling about all this," Vince said.

  
"Are you _certain_ it isn't Croatoan?" Dwight stressed. "Could he had found some little opening in the Armory, some way of doing this without you knowing about it?"

  
"None," Vince answered firmly. "So long as he is confined to the Armory, he cannot utilize his aether abilities without my direct supervision."

  
Dwight looked grim. "And then there's Duke."

  
"I do not think Duke is doing this," Vince replied. "Both he and Croatoan were within the Armory when Lillet was killed."

  
"That leaves one other person who can manipulate aether--Audrey," Dwight answered.

  
"Audrey would never do such a thing," Vince protested.

  
"No, she wouldn't. But she might not be aware that she's doing it," Dwight replied, digging through the files. "Remember who she used to be."

  
"Mara Cross is dead. Charlotte and Croatoan both confirmed that the person who was originally in that body is gone," Vince stated firmly, seeing Dwight wince at the mention of her name.

  
"There's got to be an answer, and I'm willing to bet it's in here somewhere," Dwight replied. "If I find it, I'll call out for you. Can you hear me from here?"

  
"Yes, I can. I don't want to leave those two alone for long."

  
"Afraid he might take Duke back over again?"

  
"Actually, I don't think that he could anymore," Vince stated. "Duke's changed, Dwight. Oh, I don't mean personality-wise--he seems to be the same smart-aleck Duke Crocker he always was," he observed wryly. "But the aether has altered Duke biologically. To be truthful, Dwight--I don't think Duke could be considered strictly human anymore. He's more like what Audrey and Croatoan are. Not superhuman, not alien--but something in between."

  
"When he released those Troubles, they didn't affect him, like Audrey wasn't affected by the Troubles. But she was with the ones Duke released."

  
"Because they had mutated to the point even beings of her race could be affected by them," Vince said.

  
"Makes me wonder if he could affect Croatoan," Dwight commented. "Maybe you--" he looked back to where Vince was, but he was gone.

  
"I just hope you're right, Vince," he mumbled, and went back to digging in the files.

* * *

 

Nathan and Audrey arrived at Gloria and Lincoln's home. Nathan turned off the car, and turned to face Audrey.

  
"I hate to say this--but maybe you shouldn't come with me if we get another case," he began. He thought a moment. "They see you, and immediately jump to conclusions."

  
"Yeah," Audrey said softly. "I don't think they're buying this whole Paige-changed-her-hair thing. People see me, they think the Troubles are back."

  
"They are back, if people are going to keep turning up dead," Nathan protested.

  
Audrey gave him a tender look.

  
"Can you still feel, Nathan?"

  
"Yeah," he exhaled. "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, to suddenly find I'm numb again--to where the only thing I could feel was you," he continued, and held her hand in his briefly. He glanced back at the house, where Vicky was emerging with James in her arms.

  
Audrey quickly jammed Paige's knit cap that had been left in the car on her head, and climbed out of the car.

  
"There's my big boy," she smiled, gathering him in her arms.

  
"Sorry we were so long," Nathan apologized.

  
"Oh, that's okay," Vicky grinned. "He and Aaron always have a good time. But I think somebody's ready for his nap," she went on, seeing James' expression.

  
Nathan swallowed involuntarily. Normally, James was all smiles when Paige held him; but this wasn't Paige, it was Audrey. James seemed to be regarding her with a sort of curiosity.

  
_He knows she's different_ , he thought, as he watched the toddler observe the woman in his mother's clothes. _Or does he remember her from before, I wonder?_

  
"Are you sleepy?" Audrey asked. "Ready for nite-nites with Mr. D?" she asked, drawing on Paige's memories of tucking him in with a stuffed bear they'd named Duke, because Nathan had told her that the toy bear had the same warm brown eyes as his late friend. The bear was James' constant companion; and the irony wasn't lost on Nathan that Duke had pretty much been his own and Audrey's constant companion.

  
"Um...Nathan?" Vicky began. "I was in town earlier and I heard--"

  
"I know what you heard. Don't read anything into it. The Troubles aren't back, these are just--accidents," Nathan reassured her.

  
Vicky gave him a look that she must have learned from Gloria, but changed the subject.

  
"Any leads on who took Duke from the morgue? I heard about what happened to Danny. He claims that Duke was _walking_?"

  
"N-No, nothing yet," Nathan mumbled. _Can't exactly tell her the Troubles aren't back and then try to explain how Duke's alive again,_ he reflected. He just hoped Gloria wouldn't spill the beans.

* * *

 

In the Armory, Vince returned to find Howard watching Croatoan and Duke, talking.

  
"Never thought I'd see those two having a conversation," he remarked. "How are things progressing?"

  
"Very well," Howard replied. "Duke can form a fairly solid core; and he can control the direction of aether."

  
"The larger question is, however, can he manipulate it," Vince commented.

  
"You mean could he give a Trouble," Howard answered, his tone grave. "Unfortunately, that we don't know--until he tries to."

* * *

 

In another part of Haven, Jacob Halleck was putting the finishing touches on his drawing of his girlfriend, Lainey. It was a surprise for her birthday next week, and he'd worked on it for almost a month, wanting to truly capture her.

  
He heard his phone ping, and he glanced at it. It was a message from Lainey, and he smiled at first, picking it up to read it. But his smile faded as he read the message.

  
_Hey Brady baby, sorry can't make it to the movie tonight,_ it read. _Stuck on a date with Mr. Boring. Will call you when I get home and then maybe we can get together later._

  
Jacob felt his heart beat faster. Lainey was _cheating_ on him with that sleazy fullback? He was so angry, he reached out for the picture he'd been working on so carefully and ripped it apart.

  
Downstairs, Jacob's mother heard him scream once and then the sound of a falling body. Worried, she went to investigate. There wasn't a sound from his room, and she knocked loudly.

  
"Jacob?" she called, receiving no answer. "Jacob, I'm coming in," she called, and upon opening the door, it was her turn to begin shrieking.


	13. The Shoe Drops

 

Nathan and Dwight arrived at the Halleck house, and went upstairs to Jacob's room.

  
They both stood looking at the boy's body in silence for a few moments. Nathan looked pale and shaken; but he steadied himself.

  
"Well, after this, I don't think it's a question anymore of 'are the Troubles coming back," Dwight muttered.

  
"No--they _are_ back," Nathan replied, wishing Audrey were with him.

  
"I'm telling McHugh to take Lizzie north, to Ottawa, tonight," Dwight spoke. "You should do the same with James."

  
Nathan nodded. "What about the Guard?"

  
"I have my key members on standby--we'll do what we have to," Dwight sighed.

  
"I guess we can drop the pretense that Audrey is just Paige with different hair then," Nathan remarked. "I know that people will think she brought the Troubles back with her, but she didn't. I know it, Dwight--I know it in here," he prodded his chest.

  
"You know that and I know that, Nate, but there are people who'd like to get rid of her just to make sure the Troubles don't come back anymore," Dwight confided.

  
"Don't remind me," Nathan growled. He took in the scene in the room, the way the boy was lying, the torn drawing nearby.

  
"He got Vicky's old Sketching Trouble," he pointed out. "Troubles are caused by strong emotions. What could have set his off?"

  
"Maybe this," Dwight answered, picking up Jacob's phone. "The kid's name's Jacob--but there's a text on here from a Lainey to some guy named Brad. She must've hit the wrong number by mistake."

  
"She was two-timing him--he got mad and tore up her sketch," Nathan guessed.

  
"Only it wasn't just the drawing that got torn in half," Dwight finished. "These Troubles are targeting people who get emotionally distraught. What was Moffat's problem?"

  
"Since the Troubles left, Lucky Les the Fish Whisperer hasn't been quite so lucky, I heard," Nathan told him. "Beatty said he hadn't made a decent haul in six months--he was about to lose his ship to the bank."

  
Dwight nodded agreement. "That'd stand to reason. I heard on the Guard grapevine that Gary the farm hand and Lillet's wife have been getting rather cozy of late. Maybe Denny found out about it."

  
"He got mad and took it out on the tractor," Nathan guessed. "These Troubles are targeting angry people."

  
"What the hell are we supposed to do to fight something like that?" Dwight demanded. "Tell everybody 'don't worry, be happy?"

  
"We need to get in touch with Vince," Nathan sighed, and Dwight bobbed his head.

  
"Tell Duke practice time is over," Dwight said. "It's his turn at bat now."

* * *

 

Nathan and Dwight wrapped things up as quickly as they could, warily eyeing Gloria as she came in with the forensics crew.

  
"Here we go again," she muttered. Nathan gave her a pained look, and after speaking with Jacob's parents, headed back to the Bronco, the rain coming down so hard it stung, and Nathan rubbed at a sore spot on his neck.

  
"Did you find anything in the files?" Nathan asked.

  
"Not really. There've been a couple of assorted Trouble associated with anger--like Bill McShaw's Acid Stomach Trouble, but nothing that causes Troubles when someone gets upset," Dwight was saying. "Maybe Vince has had some luck in finding out who it is."

  
"Let's hope so," Nathan answered. He rubbed his neck again.

  
"Something the matter?" Dwight asked.

  
"Felt like something stung me out there," Nathan replied. "You wouldn't think insects would be flying around in this weather."

  
"Maybe a waterlogged bee," Dwight grinned.

  
They made it back to the station, where Audrey and Vince were waiting for them.

  
"How bad was it?" Audrey asked.

  
"Pretty bad," Nathan mumbled. "Vicky's old Sketching Trouble."

  
"Oh my," Vince tutted, frowning. "It seems they're becoming more dangerous with every occurrence."

  
"My thoughts exactly," Nathan replied, rubbing at his neck. He felt...odd, was the only way to describe it. The mark had stopped stinging, and had begun to feel as though he’d had a shot at the dentist’s, only in his neck—and it seemed to be spreading.

  
“Did you hurt yourself?” Audrey questioned, seeing his action.

  
“Something stung me out there in the rain,” Nathan frowned.

  
“Let me see,” Audrey replied, moving his shirt collar, and touched his neck. “There’s no mark there,” she puzzled. “Does it still hurt?”

  
“No, it doesn’t hurt. It feels…” he trailed off, remembering the sensation— _of no longer being able to feel sensation_.

  
“I can’t feel it,” he got out, and the three startled. “I can’t feel it at all.”

  
Dwight put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder and squeezed. “Can you feel that?”

  
Nathan shook his head. “Nothing.” He shook his head, and gave a sharp bark of a laugh. “Figures,” he said bitterly.

  
“That wasn’t an insect sting you felt; it must have been a Trouble— _your_ old Trouble,” Vince noted gravely. “That must be how they’re affecting people without them knowing—they’re hiding in the storm!”

  
“Then we need to tell people to remain indoors for the duration,” Audrey told them.

  
“Well, at least this little piggy found its way home,” Dwight remarked. “Nathan knows how to deal with having this Trouble.”

  
“Why do you say that?” Nathan questioned.

  
“Because it was yours before, it’s less likely to kill you if you get upset,” Audrey said sympathetically. “You can’t even feel _me_ , Nathan?” she asked, putting a hand against his neck.

  
Nathan shook his head. “There’s just—nothing. Maybe back in the Armory—“

  
“Then I propose that we return there without delay. Perhaps it’s easier to remove a Trouble when it’s newly infected,” Vince suggested.

* * *

  
“You’ve learned so much faster than I’d anticipated, Duke,” Croatoan told Duke as they stopped for a breather. “I think you’re ready to move onto more advanced studies.”

  
“Such as?” Duke asked. He still didn’t fully trust Croatoan—but Howard had hovered like a vulture nearby, so he felt a little better about being taught how to manipulate aether.

  
He still wasn’t sure about this whole ‘more human than human’ thing he seemed to have undergone since his resurrection. Once he’d tuned into the aether in his body instead of trying to fight against the substance, it seemed to actually _respond_ to what he was doing; and in turn, could make other aether do the same. He only hoped that Croatoan or whoever had resurrected him wasn't going to be able to do the same to _him_. He'd had more than enough of that.

  
“I think you’re ready for full-on manipulation,” Croatoan told him.

  
“You mean giving a Trouble,” Duke stated flatly.

  
“I mean tweaking it to whatever you wish it to be,” Croatoan told him. “Let’s take—Dr. Verrano, for example,” he began. “Say she wanted to be able to fly—you focus your intention of Gloria being able to fly on that sphere, that’s all you think about—and then you gift her with it, and voila—she can fly!”

  
“And have to wear hundred-pound weighted shoes so she doesn’t float away,” Duke finished. “I’m well aware that your little ‘gifts’ have side effects in people on this side of the Void. That’s why we called them Troubles, not Gifts.”

  
“Yes, but it’s changed, hasn’t it? _You’ve_ changed,” Croatoan told him. “Think on it, Duke—you could make Dwight bullet-proof, instead of them being drawn to him—“

  
“And they ricochet off and kill someone else,” Duke added.

  
“Or say, take away Nathan’s insensitivity to feeling—“

  
“And end up making him like Jordan McKee,” Duke finished. “No thanks.”

  
“I think you’re just being stubborn,” Croatoan said petulantly.

  
“I think you’re being very wise,” Howard put in.

  
“No one asked the jailer,” Croatoan said politely but firmly.

  
“I’m gonna have to side with the jailer on this one—my answer’s no,” Duke finished, and stood up, hearing voices, and went out into the long hallway to find Vince, Audrey, Nathan and Dwight.  
“What’s going on?” Duke asked.

  
“Another death,” Audrey said. “And Nathan gained his old Trouble back.”

  
“Are you _kidding_ me?” Duke blurted his eyes wide. “Can—can you feel—in here?”

  
“In the Armory, yeah,” Nathan answered, flexing his hands. “I can feel in here.”

  
“Then it is still neutralized within the Armory—that’s good,” Audrey said, relieved

.  
“The Trouble spheres are coming down hidden in the rains,” Vince informed Duke and Croatoan, who had entered the hallway. “And it’s begun coming down harder.”

  
“Clever, that aether stuff,” Croatoan remarked. “I wonder how many other little Havenites are wandering around out there in it.”

  
“We’ve put out an advisory for people to remain indoors,” Nathan replied.

  
“Well, that should work for a while—until it figures out another way,” Croatoan said slyly. “Or—we can figure out a solution before it does.”

  
“Let me guess—it involves Troubling people to do it,” Duke answered sarcastically.

  
“No, no no,” Croatoan said. “I know that we spoke about _giving_ gifts—but I want you to see if you can take this one back.”

  
“I’m not killing Nathan,” Duke stated. “Even if he did kill me first,” he teased with half a grin.

  
“You won’t have to—you won’t even have to make contact with his blood. That’s all finished for you anyway. But just think—that little darling I gifted your ancestors with is circling around out there somewhere,” Croatoan went on, gesturing towards the ceiling. “Just searching for its new owner—and it might just take in the next person, rather than killing them. You want another you on your hands? Not just you from when you first became Troubled—but the Collector you became _after_ I tweaked your Trouble, because that is where it left off.”

  
Duke looked somber, and he glanced back at Nathan.

  
“If you can do it—then do it,” Nathan said solemnly. “We can’t let the Troubles come back again.”


	14. Troubles Don't Come With Instructions

"What do you mean, 'take it from him?" Duke questioned. "Why can't the Armory do it? Isn't that supposed to be the function of this place?"

  
"It is; to a degree," Vince replied. "But who or whatever is causing these Troubles to reappear seems to have taken that into consideration as well. It's inactive in here; but once he steps outside, it returns."

  
"You mean you can't pull this out of Nathan?"

  
"As long as Nathan is in here, the aether is nullified. But even if we do, who's to say that a new Trouble won't inflict itself on him?" Croatoan spoke. "These may be Troubles that you've seen before--but these batches are aggressive little devils. They're not returning to the roost, to turn a phrase," he continued. "They always did before--I don't know what's changed about that," he puzzled aloud, more to himself than the others.

  
"We know--we think that's why people are dying, because the Trouble isn't with its original owner--maybe it doesn't know how to handle it," Dwight suggested.

  
"Or perhaps it's doing exactly what it's been programmed to do," Croatoan said.

  
"You mean it's been rigged to cause the death of the person who gets it--like an IED," Dwight answered grimly. "Trigger it and it blows."

  
Croatoan pointed at him and made a clicking noise.

  
"But if Duke can successfully remove one--then he should be able to do others," Vince put in.

  
"Could--could he make someone--Trouble-proof?" Audrey asked.

  
"Not quite," Croatoan said. "I think that may just a tad out of Duke's league at the moment. Hell, I think that's out of _my_ league," he added mildly. "Duke can tweak the Trouble, nullify it--render it dormant, as his own was done."

  
"Again, not killing Nathan," Duke snapped.

  
"You don't _have_ to kill Nathan," Croatoan rolled his eyes. "You know, for someone who says he doesn't want to kill him, you certainly do seem to keep bringing it up," he remarked, earning glares from both Nathan and Duke. "All you are doing is simply telling the aether to--go to sleep," he gestured.

  
"Are you messing with us?" Dwight asked his eyes narrowed. "Because now is not the time."

  
"Tell me something--were people Troubled in between the times the Barn appeared and disappeared?" Croatoan asked Vince.

  
"No--they stopped. You know they did," he answered. "They went away for twenty-seven years, until the next time Audrey came back."

  
"And each time, they've gotten a little more worse haven't they?" Croatoan interrogated all business now. "More and more people died because of them."

  
" _You_ would know," Duke snarled.

  
"No, _he_ would know," Croatoan pointed to Vince. "Exactly how many deaths was there this last time, O Keeper of Haven Secrets?"

  
Vince was silent.

  
"I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you,” Croatoan said sweetly. “How many?”

  
"One hundred eighty-two--including Duke," Vince finally grated. "Not counting the recent deaths."

  
"Around ten percent of the population," Nathan said.

  
"This will be _far_ worse if we don't get it under control," Croatoan said in a more kindly tone. "Duke, you have the potential to help end this now, before one more person gets hit by one of these. And you can start--right here," he gestured to Nathan.

  
Nathan gazed at Duke steadily.

  
"If anybody can pull off the impossible, it'd be you," Nathan answered.

  
"All I can do is try, right?" Duke half-smiled, but Nathan didn't return it, and he sobered.

  
"I'm just afraid of hurting you, Nate," he confessed.

  
"I got faith in you," Nathan answered.

  
"I'm glad one of us does," Duke muttered.

  
Nathan unbuttoned his shirt, as he had seen Duke do when Audrey had returned his Trouble to him, and Duke outstretched his hand to Nathan.

  
"Focus on pulling it to you," Croatoan said.

  
"Don't try pulling it _into_ you, however," Vince put in quickly. "Just visualize it as an inert aether sphere in your hand, like pulling a bad tooth."

  
"You're just extracting, not collecting," Audrey smiled, and held his other hand in hers.

  
"Can't you do it with me?" Duke asked her, and Audrey shook her head.

  
"It's got to be you, Duke," she told him. "Just do as you've learned--you won't hurt Nathan."

  
"It may sting a little," Croatoan murmured. "And the longer it's in there, the harder it will become to extract, so get moving."

  
Duke kept his eyes on Nathan's, and pressed his hand against his chest. In his mind's eye, he could feel the aether moving to the surface of Nathan's skin, and he felt Nathan tense with pain, his breathing through clenched jaws.

  
"I'm hurting you, I gotta stop," Duke said.

  
"You will hurt him ten times worse if you stop now," Croatoan urged. "Keep going!"

  
Nathan uttered a sharp cry, and Duke lasered his focus, intent on retrieving the sphere and a black stain bloomed under his palm before coalescing itself into a small ball, and Duke dropped his hand as Nathan practically collapsed into Dwight and Vince’s arms; and Audrey pushed a strand of hair back from Duke’s face.

  
“You did it,” she smiled.

  
Duke nodded, gasping for breath, and glanced to Nathan.

  
“You okay?” he asked.

  
“Ask me when my chest stops feeling like it’s on fire,” Nathan grunted. “It may sting a little’, he says,” he grumbled, giving Croatoan a dirty look. “Like being stabbed with a knife made out of habaneros.” He gave Duke a weak smile. “But you did it, Duke. You cured a Trouble.”

  
“Didn’t cure it, just removed it, there’s a difference,” Duke answered. He looked down to the sphere in his palm. He looked puzzled; and then a look of unease crossed his face.

  
“What is it saying to you?” Croatoan asked. Duke looked up at him, startled, but Croatoan’s expression was unreadable.

  
“Nothing,” Duke answered evenly, and Croatoan clucked at him, but didn’t contradict him.

  
“If you say so, Duke,” was his reply.

  
“Stick that somewhere,” Duke told Vince suddenly, thrusting the sphere into his hand. “I—I just need a minute, okay?” he finished, and walked off into the adjoining corridor.

  
“Duke? Duke! Audrey called after him, chasing after him to find the corridor empty.

  
“Where did he go?” she demanded.

  
“He’s still here, somewhere,” Vince said. “Give him a few moments. Are you all right, Nathan?” he questioned.

  
“I’ll be fine,” Nathan stated. “What about Duke?”

  
“It was as arduous for him as it was for you,” Vince told them. “I will go and talk to him. He’ll be all right; you just need to give him some time to come to grips with all of this. Remember—less than twenty-four hours ago, he was _dead_ ,” he finished, and vanished off into the corridor.

  
Dwight exhaled heavily and ran his hands over his hair.

  
“Hard to believe it’s only been a day,” he said.

* * *

 

Vince found Duke back in the room with the glassed-in aether.

  
“More practice?” he asked.

  
“No,” Duke answered woodenly.

  
They stood in silence for a few moments, watching the aether swirling inside the case.

  
“I know that you told Croatoan that you couldn’t hear what the aether told you,” Vince began, not looking at Duke. “But I have a feeling that you understood _exactly_ what it was saying to you.”

  
Duke nodded. “I did.”

  
“What did it say?”

  
“It told me who was behind the Aether Nebula,” Duke said softly.

  
“Who is it? William? Or has Croatoan found some way to access the aether?”

  
Duke shook his head. “Neither.”

  
“Then _who_ , Duke?”

  
Duke looked at him.

"Not who--what."

"What do you _mean_ , Duke?" Vince asked. "I don't understand--"

  
“The aether itself,” Duke blurted. “Vince—the aether—“he trailed off, thinking on the implications of what he was about to say.

  
“The aether, yes?” Vince replied, a little impatient.

  
“The aether has become sentient,” Duke told him. “It has formed its own id, its own— _personality_ —just like Audrey did with Mara.”

  
“That’s impossible,” Vince whispered, and Duke shook his head again.

  
“It’s alive, Vince,” he breathed. “It’s alive…and it’s hungry.”

  
“What is it hungry for, precisely?”

  
“For us—for the energy it gets from feeding from the Troubles,” Duke got out. “Croatoan, Mara and William spent 500 years negatively charging that stuff. Well, now all the chickens have come home to roost,” he went on. “The Nebula is _alive_ , Vince. The aether _Itself_ is doing all this,” he finished. “A-and now—“he gasped, trying to keep himself together. “It’s tired of waiting to be fed.”

  
“It’s going to start an attack,” Vince gasped. “Do you know when?”

  
For an answer, they felt the Armory floor quake beneath their feet, and Duke blanched.

  
“Now,” he said.


End file.
